


The New Kid

by MarioMisc



Category: Splatoon
Genre: A lot of out-of-school stuff, A lotta violence too, Alternate Universe - High School, Anger, Anxiety, Because it can’t be set in high school without vaping, Bullying, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health problems, Military, Naivety, Pearl and Marina are the same age, Pearlina, Racism, Slow Burn, Stress, Vaping, Verbal sexual harassment (chapters with it are marked with a content warning), a lotta cussing, mental health
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2020-01-14 19:25:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18482812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarioMisc/pseuds/MarioMisc
Summary: In this AU, an Octarian girl named Marina moves into Pearl’s high school in Inkopolis. The two quickly become friends, but anti-Octarian hostility causes Marina’s emotional stability to deteriorate. Pearl must help her newfound friend deal with these issues, while combatting her own naivety, all in a angst-filled, long-ass slow burn high school AU that has an inconsistent upload schedule.(On indefinite hiatus)





	1. Nervousness

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

“Alright, alright, alright!” I grabbed my phone quickly and turned the damn alarm off. Then, I begrudgingly got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. It was time to have breakfast, and then get ready to go to school.

I was still only half-awake by the time I got on my bus. The school made us get up so early… they really expected us to pass the tests we had first period? Having a test at that time was pretty much a death sentence for your grade.

Usually on the bus, I just scrolled through social media and listened to music, like most of the other students. Not a lot of my friends were on it so I had no one to talk to. I tended to sit close to the front and occupied the entire seat, and this day was at first no exception to that.

This day, however, ended up different in many ways, and the bus ride was just the start of it all.

The last stop before we made it to the school had a new student at it. She was a tall, dark-skinned Octoling girl with teal eyes that had two pink pupils in each of them. She had a thin black lining around her eyes, besides the bottoms of them, which had a thick lining. She also possessed long tentacles with teal ends. She wore large glasses with a thick black lining, and a plain black shirt and pair of shorts. Her presence shocked me since Octolings in Inkopolis were almost completely unheard of!

Buuuuuut, there was a bit of a problem with this girl’s presence. 

First of all, she was an Octoling in Inkling society. That wasn’t exactly the best match.

Secondly, the bus had always been crowded. The school buses in this district were infamously small so most people had to sit two in a seat. The Octoling was the last student to get on the bus and she thought no seats were left for her. So, she went to the bus driver and politely, yet nervously, said, “Excuse me… seat all occupied… what I should do?” A small gasp escaped from my mouth. I was shocked to hear just how thick her accent was. By the tone of her voice, she was clearly struggling to speak.

“What?” The bus driver said bluntly.

I watched the Octoling frown. Her face turned red. “Um… seats all taken… what do?” She said it louder and with a less shaky voice.

The bus driver understood now. “Just ask somebody to move over.”

“O-o-okay. Thank you, sir.” She said with a shaky voice. The girl proceeded to walk to each seat and asked if she can sit with the people occupying them in broken Inkling.

I cringed at the replies.

“Uh… what?”

“Do you even speak Inkling?”

“Just stand. Nobody’s going to sit with an Octo.”

“Hey, Octoling! I need to get all of these kids to school, so you need to get into a seat NOW.”

Before I knew it, the Octoling, still red, was staring right at me. In a timid matter, she said, “Please… may sit?”

“Sure,” I said, trying to act as friendly as possible. I scooted over and placed my light blue backpack, which was previously to my side, on my lap.

After the Octoling sat down and put her green backpack on her lap, I continued to look at my phone on SplatNet. All of my friends were boasting about how great they were at Turf War. Meanwhile, I hadn’t touched the game in months. Just got bored of it all. I was much more interested in the rap industry. It was the only music I really listened to.

While I was looking through my phone, I noticed the Octoling in my line of sight looked increasingly uncomfortable. She just got redder and she started shaking. Her breathing got heavier and she even began sweating. She constantly pulled at her long front tentacle roughly.

I couldn’t stand seeing it anymore.

“Hey, um, is everything alright?”

The girl just got redder in response. She slowly turned to me, still sweating.

“N-n-no,” She said bluntly with a shaky voice. “I… new around here… no know who friendly and… who not. Can’t speak Inkling well… I… no have friend…”

“Hey, it’s all okay. I’ll be your friend! I’m sure many others would be too!” I tried putting on a friendly grin.

“But… we no know each other… and… I Octarian…”

“I’m supposed to care about your species?”

“I… thought society was supposed to make specie hate other…”

“Who cares about what society thinks, Octoling girl?! Hey, what’s your name anyway?”

“Um… is very exotic…”

“Alright, if you’re not comfortable sharing it then I won’t force ya. No problem.”

The girl paused for a second.

“I go by Marina. Marina Ida is full name.”

“Nice name! I like it!”

“You do?”

“Yeah! Sounds cool!”

Marina blushed a bit. “Wow, I… you too kind… I-I can’t enough thank you…”

“You’re welcome! Anyways my name is Pearl! Pleased to meet ya!” I brought my hand out to her to meet, but Marina only flinched and backed up with a scared face.

“U-u-um… what do?!”

“Oh, sorry! I’m bringing my hand out to you for a handshake. It involves us putting our hands together like so…” I proceeded to wrap Marina and I’s right hands together. “...and then just shaking it up and down with a tight grip. Sorry, I’m ignorant sometimes.”

“No, I sorry… I still have to learn much about Inkling culture…”

“Hey, it’s perfectly fine! Don’t worry, I know for a FACT that you’ll absolutely love it here once you get all settled!!”

“Thank… thank you much.”

She paused. “Pearl, how um… prejudiced do think school is against Octarians?” Marina asked this with a concerned look on her face. She was not sweating as much, shaking anymore, or breathing as heavily, but her face was still red.

“Look, this school has a pretty diverse population, though it is majority Inkling. A lot of the people here are nice and all, but to be completely honest, I don’t… really... know if they’d be nice to an Octoling.

Marina sighed. “When I went to bus stop, all Inklings look at me weird. I was very uncomfortable.”

“I’m really sorry, Marina. Let me tell you that I’m sure that there are at least some good people in this school who won’t give a single care about your species, okay? You don’t always need a great amount of friends as long as you have quality in the ones you have.”

“Thank you…” Marina smiled.

Suddenly, the bus stopped and the doors opened.

“Oh, wait, before you go!” I said as Marina started putting her backpack on. She looked right at me with a curious look.

“Do you want to like, continue talking later on the bus ride home? And tomorrow morning, or something?”

“Certainly! Thank you for invite!” Marina said excitedly.

“No problem! Alright, see ya if we have classes or lunch or something! If not, see ya in the hallways or on the bus later!”

Marina came across as a really kind girl who got crap thrown at her that she didn’t deserve. I really wanted to help her. I didn’t want to become friends with her just because of that; her kind personality was a really nice presence. Also, she was honestly… pretty to me. She looked adorable in her glasses and had amazing-looking eyes. 

I didn’t know much about her besides her status as an immigrant and some of the problems that came with it. I wish I got to know some of her interests when I first met her, but there was always next time.

My first period class was Science. Class began as usual until two minutes in, when a middle-aged Inkling lady walked in with Marina.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” The teacher said. “We’ve got a new student. Everyone say hi to…”

The teacher pointed at Marina to say her name.

“Um… Marina.”

“Marina, welcome to science class! Pick any open seat you want!”

“Okay, thank you.”

She looked right at me with a shy wave. I waved back. Unfortunately though, there was no open seat at all near me. There was only one in the far right-hand corner of the room, which was the complete opposite corner from where I was. She turned red from this realization. She walked slowly to the seat with the Inkling lady.

“So today class, we have a test! I hope you all studied because if didn’t then well, you’re probably gonna fail. Just being realistic!”

I didn’t study for that test. Whoops.

He began distributing the test to all the students except for Marina. She instead got a textbook and a packet. THE textbook.

Goodness. That textbook was the bane of my existence. Not only was its text extremely small and its paper very large, but we had to define and explain so much stuff that I often tore my packet apart out of rage and accepted a zero. I hadn’t a single clue how Marina would handle it, but I sure hoped she didn’t have a terrible time with it.

Marina left the room with the lady and went into another one.

After the test that I TOTALLY didn’t flunk, I came out into the hallway and Marina came up to me.

“Meet me in your next period,” the lady beside Marina said. Afterwards, she speedwalked through the hallway, quickly going ahead of us.

As we walked in the hallway, I asked. “Who was that?”

“Oh. Is my assistant. I have trouble speaking Inkling so she speak for me. Should be big help.”

“Ah, I should’ve figured that.”

“So, what’d u think of the textbook work? Terrible, right?” 

“Heh… it was not fun, certain, but I dealed with it well.”

“Ya can’t say the same about me. Sometimes, I flunk those on purpose.”

“Wouldn’t blame you for that, I say honest.”

“THANK YOU. So many of my friends were saying how I shouldn’t be purposefully failing them and how they’re important and stupid stuff like that. Like, want to know what else is important? Our mental health!”

“Well, work important too. I just say I understand how you behave.”

“Yeah, I guess. But still, they act like it’s more important than my mental health, which is like, nah. Like, I feel like these teachers are sadists sometimes. WE SHOULD REBEL!”

“Okay, okay, maybe not.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m just messing with you, but my point still stands.”

“Okay, class is here. Bye Pearl!”

“See ya.”

I didn’t see Marina for the rest of my morning periods.

It was lunchtime. I sat with my friends Callie, Marie, Three, and Four on a circular, wooden table. Three and Four were sitting beside me. Four was to my left and Three was to my right, while Callie and Marie sat across from me with Callie being on my left and Marie being on my right. Three and Four were named as such since Three constantly got 75s on his tests and Four got a lot of 100s on her’s.

As I opened my lunchbox, Marie began speaking, “Did you guys hear about the new girl?”

“Yeah,” I responded, “I met her, in fact. She’s really nice, though I don’t know a lot about her besides the fact that’s she’s Octarian and that that kind of makes things difficult.”

“Yep,” Marie said, “I dunno. She’s really awkward but she does seem nice.”

“Well, I mean she’s an immigrant whose kind isn’t really accepted often here. You should expect her to be really nervous.”

“I just think she should actually put an effort to… y’know… not have such a weird presence?” Three said, “Like geez, whenever she walks into the room things get immediately awkward. Take a damn chill pill and quit sweating all over the floor. Then, people might actually accept you.”

“Okay.”

Pearl turned. Marina was there staring right at Three. Three turned red.

Marina had on a stern look. She said, “Is not as easy as you think.” Immediately after, she walked away. I watched her go back to a table at the opposite end of the cafeteria. She was sitting alone.

All alone.

I frowned. She was probably at my table to see me. With this, she might have thought I was a gossiper.

“Ooooooohhhhhh somebody’s getting in trouble!” Four mischievously stated.

“Ah, shut it. I’m not afraid of her. I was stating the truth!” Three responded.

“I wanna be friends with her! She seems like the person who needs one. Three, give her a chance. It’s only the first day and I too can understand the nervousness,” Callie said.

Three said in response, “Eh, I guess it’s understandable, but still, my days at school are already dreadful enough. I prefer not to have intense awkwardness to accompany the boring and tiring work we have to do. She should at least put an effort to not be awkward. That’s all I’m saying.”

I wasn’t going to respond to Three. It wasn’t worth it. Instead, I said, “I already befriended the girl, Callie. Sure seems like she wants friends.”

“Cool! I might try talking to her sometime later, but for now, I wanna have lunch with you guys,” Callie said.

Then my friends started talking amongst themselves. I glanced at Marina. She was eating a sandwich and had her school laptop out, typing away. She seemed hard at work.

But her face. It’s expression legitimately scared me. It was a mix of anger and also sadness. She was super red.

I wanted to sit with her, but what if she hated me because of what she heard? I needed to explain to her that I disagreed with what the kid who was gossiping about Marina was saying.

“I’m gonna go talk to Marina,” I announced. “I dunno if I’ll be back here today.” I didn’t wait for a response and just started walking to her.

When I got to her table, I reluctantly tapped her shoulder to get her attention. She still had that pissed-off look on her. I REALLY hoped she wasn’t mad at me.

Marina looked in the corner of her eye and saw me. She then proceeded to slowly turn to me.

“Um… hi,” I said quietly.

Marina stayed silent, but she sent a clear message. She never changed her facial expression.

She broke the silence after a few tense seconds.

“You… YOU SO FAKE!” She formed her hands into fists and smashed the sides of them onto the table. “GET OUT OF SIGHT!”

“Wait, Marina, I-”

“You know, I thought you were real friend, but you just judgemental like everyone else! I won’t listen to your BULLSHIT!”

“Hey, lay off!”

Help me. It was Three.

“You? You… can’t say any! You judge me!” 

It was this moment when Marina began to tear up. “Just… GO AWAY! ALL OF YOU! YOU ALL JUST MAKE THINGS SO HARD FOR NO GOOD REASON!”

“Mari-”

“You know what?! I feel like most people in this school WOULD accept you if you weren’t such a nervous wreck!”

“I was called speciesist slurs throughout day! You don’t know anything!”

“Ma-”

“You know your nervousness only contributes to the speciesism, and even so, not everybody is going to be nice to you, but being an awkward mess is going to make NOBODY like you!”

“The speciesism is hard to deal with so people shouldn’t blame me for being nervous!”

“Hey!” I yelled. Marina was completely ignoring me.

“You know, I guess I understand it to an extent, but even then, you’re an Octo! You’re supposed to be tough!”

“I am!”

“Guys!”

“HA! Tough people are never nervous!”

“Bullshit! I tough but I also pacifist! I nervous because don’t want to use force but can if need!”

I groaned.

“Oh yeah? You’re tough?”

“Yeah!”

“Prove it.”

“What? How?”

“You know what? I have an idea.”

There’s right hand formed a fist and he went in what seemed like a punching position.

Oh my cod.

“THREE, NO!” I tried to get him to stop, but he didn’t. Three punched Marina right across the face.

“OW! WHAT THE FUCK DID EVER DO YOU?!” Marina’s already teary eyes began raining tears fully.

“Marina, let me help you!” I walked up to her but she turned away from me and Three.

“A true tough gal would punch back!” Three yelled.

“FUCK YOU!” Marina yelled.

I couldn’t believe it at first, but right after saying that, Marina turned around and punched back.

The whole thing predictably turned into a fist fight. I tried to break it up, but Three punched me so hard in the process I ended up unconscious.

I woke up on a bed.

“Uh… woah… where am I?”

“Nurse’s office.” A lady, who I’m sure was the nurse, replied.

I felt my throbbing forehead. I had a giant bump on it.

“I’ve treated the bump properly for now. It should heal up soon. You’ll be fine.”

“Where’s Marina?”

“Yeah, about that? Don’t even bother going back to lunch. Principal wants to talk to you. He’ll update you on what’s going on.”

Oh great. The principal. A notorious dickhead.

“Alright. Thanks,” I said as I struggled to get off the bed. My head was KILLING ME!

I made my way to the principal’s office. I really hoped Marina was there. I not only wanted to make sure she was okay but I also wanted to make it clear that I in no way agreed with what Three was saying.

I walked into the office and the only person there was the principal. He was a light-skinned, blue-eyed, and bald Inkling about Marina’s height who wore a gray suit and a red tie with black stripes. He was sitting in a black, wooden chair behind a large, wooden, and brown desk.

“Uh… hi.”

“Have a seat,” The principal responded.

As I did so, I asked, “Where’s Marina?”

“She’ll come in any minute now.”

I let out a sigh of relief. I was going to be able to see how she was.

She walked in just a minute later and I gasped. Maybe walked wasn’t the right way to describe her movement. She was limping and leaning on whatever she could.

Yet that wasn’t the most alarming thing.

Her head was.

It had bandages all over it. Her left eye was a black eye. And were those… burns?! What the hell happened?!

But her tentacles… They used to reach her waist, but now they reached her neck.

As well as those, her clothes were ripped and her arms and legs had plenty of bandages and burns as well. Her glasses did not really have any visible damage, though.

Surprisingly, Marina wasn’t at all crying. Of course, saying she wasn’t happy would be an understatement. She had a really pissed-off expression on her face, but there was sadness in it, too. Three truly held nothing back. I’m honestly hoping Marina didn’t either.

Weirdly enough, her assistant was nowhere to be seen. Must be because the fight occurred during lunch, where Marina was left alone, and the period had not ended yet.

She slowly and shakily sat down in the chair beside me.

“M-M-Marina…”

She ignored me.

“I didn’t agree with him. You assumed I did but I didn’t. Please, I want to help you through this.”

“Oh…” She said.

Suddenly, she lowered her head and raised her hands, connecting them, and began making a screaming noise.

“HEY! Cut that out!” The principal barked at Marina.

The Octoling obeyed him, placing her hands on her lap and raising her head. Her face now had a more scared look.

“Now… I’ve heard from many people in the school that you two are friends, correct?”

“I-I don’t know…” Marina said shakily and sadly.

“Yes, we are,” I responded confidently.

A slight smile appeared on Marina’s face, but it quickly disappeared after.

The man looked at Pearl and said, “Okay, so I know that you were a witness. This is true?”

“Yes.”

He then looked at Marina and said, “You were one of the fighters, yes?”

“Y-Y-Yes sir…” she admitted shamefully.

“It is my knowledge that it was not you that started the physical fight,” he said. He then turned himself and looked at the both of us. “Do you both agree that this is true?”

We both said yes.

“Hmmm… that seems to contradict what most people were saying when they saw the whole thing go down… interesting…”

“They’re only doing that because she’s an Octoling!” I yelled.

He turned to Marina with a smile and said, “Ah, I see Pearl really understands you and your problems, Marina,” He then turned to look at the both of us. “We looked at surveillance cameras. It is true that Marina did not start the fight.”

I simply groaned. It was typical of him to have these sort of weird tactics.

“W-Why say then?” Marina asked.

“Just a simple test of character. And you both passed! Congrats!”

We were both just silent in response.

“Also, you two must be close for me to cause such a strong reaction from Pearl by mentioning people’s lies about Marina. Just a comment,” he said.

“We really aren’t that close,” Marina stated.

“Yeah, and didn’t the camera catch us fighting earlier?”

“I honestly thought it was just Marina ranting about anxiety or something to Pearl,” the principal admitted.

“I guess that makes sense. Well, look, we don’t know much about each other because the immigrant thing kind of took over, but I hope to fully befriend her,” I said.

Marina looked at me. “Me too,” she said.

“Well, Marina, let me tell you this: I know what the underground is like. I’ve had Octarian students in the past,” He followed those statements up with an attitude that was very clear: he thought Marina was a dumbass. “I hope that you realize that Inkling society is completely different from Octarian society, right? Like, seriously?”

“No know that fighting was such serious thing here…” she quietly admitted.

I couldn’t let him do that. “Look, mister, I don’t think you have the right to talk to her that way. Like, she just got beat up and now you’re talking to her like she’s stupid? She doesn’t know everything about Inkling culture and standards. If fighting was normal in Octarian society, then she’s not just going to assume it wasn’t in Inkling society. Like, you’re being ignorant!”

“Did I say you can talk? I’m saying she should have THOUGHT about it before fighting. Ugh… I can see why you were friends with Three.”

Yeah. Everybody called him Three.

He wasn’t wrong, though. I liked Three’s rebellious attitude. He wasn’t afraid to let his feelings known, for better or worse. Sometimes I really admired the guy. Other times, definitely not. He took things way too far this time.

“Sir, I very sorry. My instincts just kicked in,” Marina weakly uttered.

“I’m very disappointed in you. You’ve been in this school for less than a day. You’ve been in this society for less than a week and you’ve already messed up horrendously. Three? I’m used to Three already. He’s as predictable as his test grades. He’s being lectured by the dean right now because I’ve just had enough of him. I expected better from a migrant who was trying to make good first impressions with friendliness, but you know what? Maybe I should’ve expected less from an Octarian. You were raised in a military society. I know you’ve gotten training. I know you’re very strong. You’re obviously going to be a bit rough in terms of behavior. My mistake for thinking that you’d actually be able to control yourself.”

“I… I tried to, but… yes… couldn’t…”

“Yeah, so you’re getting three days in-school suspension for it and a phone call home. Learn about our standards, Octo!”

When Marina heard those words, her expression turned from scared to horrified. She pleaded with him. “Please! My parents are already going to be terrified by what happened to me. I-I didn’t know! I won’t do it again! Just please, don’t punish me that harshly!”

I tried intervening, “If I may have an opinion-”

“Marina, do you realize just HOW serious fighting is here? You’re getting a harsh punishment, and if you object any more, you’ll get a harsher one!”

Marina sighed and then said, “O-O-Okay sir…”

The principal turned to me and said, “Pearl, sorry you uh… had to see that. I meant to say this earlier so you could leave before I said that but I kind of just wanted to get it over with beforehand. ANYWAYS, I’d like to thank you for trying to stop the fight. It required great bravery on your behalf.”

He picked up a small slip of paper on his desk and held it out to me with a giant smile. “Here’s a homework pass,” he said. It was tempting, but I couldn’t take it.

“Sorry, mister. I just can’t benefit from the fight. It’s not right.”

He pulled it back and put it in a drawer on his desk. After, he said, “Fair enough.”

He stood up and said, “Alright, Pearl. You’re dismissed. Head back to lunch. Marina, stay with me.”

I sighed and stood up from my chair. I looked at Marina, who was facing me, and said, “I’ll, um, see you on the bus?”

“Yeah,” she responded.

With that, I walked out. As I was walking, I was thinking to myself. I thought about how so much crap had happened involving Marina and I, and yet we didn’t even know each other that well. I thought maybe things were going to get better soon enough, but at that time we were going to have to endure the gossip and Marina was going to have to go through in-school suspension. I sighed. After all that thinking, I was at the doors to the cafe. I was really scared for what I thought could happen when I entered that room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit this took a while to write.  
> How long will this fic be? I dunno. I plan on making it longer than Revelation at least.  
> I can’t guarantee that the second chapter won’t take as long to upload. It might be shorter than the first one, but I took much time to write this instead of making edits for my Instagram account and I want to get back into doing that. Still, I have more free time for a bit so I MIGHT be able to get out a second chapter by this weekend, though I won’t rush myself.  
> Writing updates might be on @mario.misc_101 on Instagram. I haven’t really been posting them since I don’t really think many of my followers care about my writing, though if I get a few that do, I’ll start posting updates on my story.  
> I actually made updates a bit for this fic on my vent account, @mario.misc_102, though it was in the context of me talking about it in relation to me managing my Instagram account and some other stuff. I can’t guarantee I’ll make constant updates on that account either, but you may see some on there from time to time.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading.


	2. Aftermath

When I walked in, I wasn’t noticed at first by most people. They were mostly just at their tables, eating lunch and talking amongst themselves.

Callie, Marie, and Four, on the other hand, did see me, and walked up to me.

“Goodness, are you alright?!” Callie asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I should heal soon,” I said. “What even happened after I was knocked out? All I really know is that Marina got really hurt.”

“Do you really want to know? Marie asked.

“Hey, you know I can handle the details. Lay em on me,” I said.

“It got UGLY,” Four stated.

“That’s an understatement,” Marie stated. “Maybe this information will make you happy: Three got really messed up too, maybe even more so than Marina.”

“When I left, he had burns everywhere and a bunch of bruises! Stuff got real!” Callie said.

“I saw Marina had burns. How’d that happen?”

“Oh gosh… well, let’s just say that the two entered the kitchen. They began hitting each other with utensils and stuff and slamming each other’s faces onto the hot surfaces there,” Marie explained.

“Did ANYBODY try to stop it?” I asked.

“To be honest, we were all too…” Four began.

“Too what?”

“Cowardly. I’m just gonna be blunt. Cowardly,” Marie confessed with a frown.

“You people just LET Marina and Three mess each other up like that?!” I yelled.

“We saw what happened to you! So did everybody else in the cafe! Three… he’s… intimidating…” Callie said.

“Marina too!” Four added.

I groaned. “You know what, I just don’t want to talk to anyone right now. I’m sitting dow-”

The bell for next period rang before I got to finish that sentence.

I never got to eat any of my lunch that day. I quickly closed and took my lunchbox and ran to my next period. The end of the school day couldn’t come soon enough.

At the school day’s end, I ran as quickly as I could to the bus. I ended up being one of the first students on the vehicle.

Unsurprisingly, Marina was one of the last ones to get on the bus. Her assistant had helped her walk slowly to the vehicle until she was finally on it. I was sitting in the seat closest to the door to make things easier for her.

“Hey,” I whispered towards her. My backpack was already on my lap and I was as close to the window as I was able to be so there was room for her.

The Octarian was frowning. She looked no better than she did in the principal's office. She sat next to me and put her backpack on her lap and then looked at me.

“Pearl…” She whispered.

“Hey, don’t worry about what you said to me earlier. Those words don’t matter to me anymore,” I said to her.

She nodded in response.

“So, now that we have more time to chat and we aren’t in front of the principal, let’s talk about some of our interests!” I said. “What do you like Marina?”

“Like? Some things…” She said quietly. “I want to get into singing and writing songs and such, but need to speak Inkling better before. If speak Octarian, no one understand.”

“Sometimes it doesn’t matter if people don’t understand the lyrics as long as it sounds good,” I stated, “Some regional dialects of Inkling are not intelligible at all to me, yet I still listen to songs sung in those dialects and enjoy them.”

“Sure, but I feel like I be more successful if I sang in Inkopolian Inkling,” Marina replied.

“You would, to be honest,” I admitted.

“Know Inkling to decent level, but accent not help…. very heavy… Octarian voice very deep too. But am optimistic. Will learn Inkling more. Hope accent at least becomes… tolerable. Voice tone won’t change but at least should be more understandable…”

“Your voice sounds fine.”

“In your opinion.”

“No, really. I don’t see any problem with it. Deep doesn’t mean bad.”

Marina shook her head. “Most don’t agree…”

“Don’t listen to the assholes, Marina. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“They kind of do…”

“What makes you say that?”

“I been criticized by singers in school. People who have become very popular in school for talent show performances. They told me all how voice bad.”

“Don’t listen to them, Marina. They just have huge egos.”

Marina paused.

“It’s… it’s hard to agree with you.”

“Huh?”

“You’re… you’re the only student in this school who has been kind to me…”

“Wait, really?”

“Every other student that communicated with me was mean. I been criticized for so many things. They mocked deep voice. Mocked thick accent. They said I too tall. That my face and tentacles ugly. I looked in mirror during in-school suspension... the room was rather dirty and unorganized... and I saw full self. I thought so much about their criticisms while in suspension. I thought… maybe… Inkling society right... I analyzed myself and I noticed their criticisms more. Our tentacles… our suction cups DO look bizarre. The Inkling tentacles look so much more smooth… Our eyes… they just look incomplete without the lines connecting them… And they were right about me. I was way too tall. Inklings… you all so beautiful. Octarians… no. I realized that maybe the ones living far better lives than us were right about us. Octarian society no like Inkling society. Is totalitarian and militaristic society, but not speciesist. Is diplomatic with Inklings. Octarians only have such strict government and much military presence because politics are very divisive. Government needs strong authority and military to crush any rebellion because Octarians can get very violent. I’m sure many think most Octarians violent. And after what I did today… maybe is true. We were all raised in violent society… so most Octarians may be violent… even when not in society anymore. Any major disagreement in society has possibility to lead to rebellion. So many wars in underground… Inklings no think Octarians belong in their society. I see why. They live in great conditions in city and Octarians live in bunkers underground, needing go through military training. We only know violent society. Inklings make war fun by making it sport. Octarians… no. Is just regular war. No fun for most part.”

I had to think. The girl had just said so many things…

After a few moments, I began talking, “Marina, your thinking… it’s wrong. Completely wrong. The whole militaristic stuff… that’s just part of Octarian culture, but that doesn’t mean all Octarians are violent. The militaristic nature isn’t going to make them automatically violent. Some may limit their violence to just the battlefield and training sites…”

Marina stayed silent. I sighed.

“Hey, I have personal experience with the bullying about looks and height. Let me tell you that you aren’t ugly. I think… some people think you’re pretty. There’s some out there. I’m sure of it. And… your height? Have you seen me, Marina? I’m 4’9 for goodness sake! Yeah, you’re tall, but compared to me, difference ain’t that much compared to average. I got bullied for my short height and was constantly ridiculed for my looks but y’know what? I didn’t let the criticism get to my head. I shut it all out. I get that it’s hard considering just HOW many people are attacking you but… stay strong. You’ve got this… because you know what? Inklings and Octolings? At the end of the day, we’re both cephalopods. We aren’t that different. We’re similar enough that we can inter-breed. We both have tentacles and similar human features from evolution. Our eyes don’t look too different either. There are distinctions, but they really aren’t that large. We are both just cephalopods. This whole Inkling prejudice is really stupid.”

Marina paused for a few seconds, then said, “You don’t think I think right?”

“No, I don’t. The criticism has gotten to you, Marina. Don’t give in. I’m saying this for your own sake. Being unhappy with yourself for these reasons isn’t healthy.”

“I… I know.”

Marina paused again for a few more seconds.

“Maybe you right. I was so afraid of the prejudice earlier… there was a reason for that fear. Prejudice is bad. Would have been more accepting to it if prejudice was good thing. I… I too weak. I almost completely succumbed to it. Can’t let self be less powerful than these people.”

“Yes. You need to stand up to them!”

“I… I will… I WILL!”

The bus driver shushed her right after she said that.

“My apologies…” Marina said quietly.

“Marina, no matter what, I’m behind you, okay?”

“Thank you…” the girl pulled my backpack and I into a very tight hug.

It.. felt nice. Very nice in fact, though it’d be better without the backpack and Marina was in a rather awkward position given how she still had her backpack on her lap.

She eventually let me go and said, “Um… back on topic with the interests, another thing I like is video games.”

“NICE! So do I! What do you play?!”

“Well, mostly Octarian-made video games, though I bought some Inkling ones too. I into RPGs and platformers for most part.”

“Same!”

“Cool! I also like books.”

“Books? Nah, not really my thing. Movies are a lot better.”

“I’m telling you, Pearl, you need start reading. Won’t regret it! Much more descriptive and interesting experience than movie.”

“C’mon Marina, movies are just more entertaining than words on pages.”

“Idea is having image pop up in head, Pearl.”

“Hey, movies do that work for me! The less work, the better!”

Marina chuckled and then said, “You certain have enthusiastic and passionate attitude. Like that about you.”

I blushed in response.

“Thanks Marina.”

“No Pearl. I should be thanking you for everything you done. Thank YOU.”

I just blushed harder.

“No problem, Marina.”

“Anyways, Pearl, what are some other things you like?”

“Well, I mentioned the movies and video games already, but not rap! I’m INTO THAT SHIT!”

The bus driver shushed me. I groaned in response.

Marina said, “I like most genres, including rap. Back home, most music militaristic. Not orchestral, though. More like techno. Still, Inkling music present too so I heard multiple genres.”

“I see. I think the other stuff is fine, but rap is really where it’s at!”

“I’ve listened to little bit of rap. Sounds good. I’m sure you’d be great rapper.”

“Heh… thanks Marina.”

The bus suddenly stopped.

“Oh, that’s my stop,” I said. “Got to go, Marina! I’ll see you tomorrow morning!”

“Goodbye,” she said and waved.

The afternoon was pretty normal for my standards: homework, studying, and then free time.

But, things changed. At around eight o’clock at night, I got a phone call. It was from Three.

I hesitated for a second, but I ultimately decided to pick up the phone. I couldn’t just leave things how they were with him and I was home alone, so if things escalated, there wouldn’t be any unwanted attention.

He immediately began, “Hey, fuck you. The dean told me about how you had Marina’s back.”

“Woah! Three, this is all YOUR fault,” I responded.

“Y’know if everybody just LEFT her alone, maybe then none of this would’ve happened. She doesn’t deserve friends.”

“That’s not true at all! She’s a kind person. Why wouldn’t she deserve friends?”

“She’s disgusting! I should know. I have much of my morning classes with her! She’s always looks like a sweating tomato!”

“Three, no one told you to punch the girl.”

“No one told you to befriend her.”

“But it was the right thing to do!”

“NOPE! Listen Pearl, I have burns and scars all over my body! My jaw feels like shit! I think I lost a few teeth too, and now I have a week of out-of-school suspension!”

“And who’s fault is all of that?”

“Her’s! She was being a jackass to you, and my selfless ass decided to defend you, and what happened? Marina and I ended up beating the shit out of each other and YOU got mad at ME! Seriously?!”

“Three, you did not have to start a fight! She was pissed off by your comments and thought I agreed with them! She assumed too much stuff, but you know what, I don’t blame her! Most people are assholes to her! I AM HER ONLY FRIEND!”

Silence.

I continued, “Marina definitely deserves a friend and gets too much crap thrown her way. She is fun to talk to as well and she’s interesting.”

“She’s a barbarian!”

“Oh, how nice of you, Three!”

“It’s true! You should’ve seen how she fought! It was insane!”

“Does this involve her being Octarian?!”

“What, you think Inklings and Octarians are equal?! The only reason I didn’t bring that aspect up was because it wasn’t my main focus at the time! If she wants to be accepted, the first thing she should do is stop being a nervous wreck. Then, she would be accepted. We would all put aside our differences, and accept her as an inferior, but still decent being. But after the fight? NOPE! NOBODY IN THIS GOD DAMN SCHOOL IS GONNA ACCEPT HER!”

“What… what do you mean?”

“I told you! She fought like a barbarian! She fought WAY harder than I did! I was just stronger! The whole cafeteria saw the damn thing, and you know what’s going to happen now?! The whole grade will find out about it! Then, the whole SCHOOL!! She’ll be known as the perfect example of the Octarian Menace! A violent, unstable individual like every damn Octarian in this world!”

I knew the material was perfect for gossip, but the speciesism too? She wasn’t just going to be known as that immigrant girl who got into a fight. It was going to be used as proof that her species was barbaric.

I talked back, “She was doing all that shit in self-defense and YOU KNOW IT!”

“Oh, that doesn’t excuse ANYTHING! She still fought like a barbarian! How many times do you wwant me to repeat this? Does it really take that long for this information to get into your brain through that giant forehead of your’s?”

“You know what? You’re not worth my time!”

I ended the call. I just hoped that Marina wasn’t going to have to endure through hell in this school. No matter what, I knew that I was going to try my best to support her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big oof  
> Don’t really have much to say in terms of when the next chapter will come out. It’ll come when it’s ready.


	3. Anger

It was a new morning. Finally Friday. I was on the bus and Marina, wearing her large glasses and in a teal shirt and jeans, just got in our seat.

“Yo, how have you been?” I asked.

“Eh… not so great. Parents weren’t very happy about circumstances… but they weren’t MAD at me so at least was not yelled at. They were mad at Three though.”

“The dude literally called me last night. He’s a real dick. Just try not to bother with him, Marina. He’s taken all this crap too far.”

“Yes, know.”

The Octarian yawned.. ”I pretty tired today… didn’t get good night’s sleep.”

“Honestly, neither did I.”

“I’m just… gonna doze off a bit if you don’t mind…”

“Are you sure you wanna do that? Bus ride ain’t that long.”

“Just wake me up when bus stops at school, please.”

Marina looked above me towards the window. She then leaned her head against the seat. For the time being, I decided to go on my phone.

After a few moments, she woke up… kind of. She looked back at me, eyes only half-open, and asked, “Um… exchange?”

I looked up to her and said, “You wanna exchange phone numbers?”

“C-Can we?”

“Of course! I guess I forgot to ask ya before.”

We did just that. Marina’s phone was clearly an Octarian-made one, with it looking much more advanced and quick when she moved around between pages on the phone.

Marina: Hello?

Pearl: Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

“Wow…” Marina whispered. “How’d you type that so fast?”

“I have the admirable skills required to copy and paste.”

“Ah yes… I seen that that requires much effort.” Marina smiled, still looking half-asleep.

“Yeah, it’s a real struggle. Holding down a button, making sure that all the necessary text is highlighted, and then clicking the copy button… and then clicking where you want to go... and then clicking THE PASTE BUTTON!! AH!!”

“Pearl, if you don’t control yourself, I’m telling the dean!” The bus driver yelled.

“My bad!” I yelled, followed by a groan.

The vehicle stopped and the doors opened.

Marina frowned and her eyes abruptly opened fully. “Guess will see you later…”

“For sure!”

It was lunchtime again. I sat yet again with Callie, Four, and Marie.

“Hey Pearl…” Four stated.

“Sup.” I sat down and took out my lunchbox. They were all silent and looked preeeettttttttyyyyy uncomfortable.

“Guys, can we just forget about yesterday? It’s done now. Just… try NOT to let a new girl get beat up next time, okay?”

They all sighed. “Alright…” the three said in unison.

Suddenly, my phone made a loud noise. I took it out, and there was a notification.

Marina: Hello?

Pearl: Yo… thought u had suspension?

Marina: I do, but moderator is actual real chill! Let me go on phone during lunch break!

Pearl: Niiiice…

Pearl: Wait, I have an idea. Gimme a sec

Marina: Okay. Take your time!

While I was texting, the three Inklings were talking amongst themselves. 

”Yo Callie, you said you want to meet Marina, right?”

“The new girl? Yep!” She responded.

“Should I see if I can add Marina to our group chat? She’s allowed to be on her phone for the lunch period.”

“That’d be pretty cool,” Marie said.

“Yeah, do it!” Callie said.

“I'm pretty curious bout her. Do it!” Four said.

“Well, I gotta ask Marina first, though I’m sure she’ll like the enthusiasm!”

I took out my phone and started munching on a sandwich. The three started talking amongst themselves again.

Pearl: Yo, M.

Marina: Ya?

Pearl: I have a few friends who’d like to meet ya! Want to be added to a group chat?

Marina took a few moments to respond.

Marina: They’re nice?

Pearl: Yep! Dw, I kicked Three from it.

Marina: Dw?

Pearl: Means “don’t worry”

Marina: Oh

Marina: I guess I can join. I do want to meet more people.

Pearl: Alrighty! 

Bot: A NEW MEMBER HAS APPEARED IN THE CHAT!

I saw the three Inklings take out their phones to the notification of the bot.

Marie: Marina, I presume?

Marina: Yes… who you?

Marie: Marie Cuttlefish.

Callie: Callie Cuttlefish!

Four: Just call me Four.

Pearl: Welcome to the best group chat in da school, M!

Marina: Hello everyone! I’m very happy to meet more people!

Callie: Same! Btw, your Inkling is very good!

Marina: Heh… thanks, but it… really isn’t. Might seem good sometimes, but I often forget rules and when I have too tough of time speaking so I don’t say certain words… 

Pearl: You’re fine, M. I can understand ya pretty well.

Callie: I’ve heard you too! I like your voice!

Marina: Really? But… it’s so… weird…

Marina: I’m just trying to be honest with you guys.

Pearl: M, chill. Honestly I think your voice sounds good too. Learn to speak Inkling a bit clearer and you could definitely sing. Your pitch is good!

Marina: Serious?

Four: I’ve never heard your voice but I’m sure it sounds fine.

Callie: Pearl is telling the truth Marina!

Marie: Singer? I’m sure you’ve got potential there, M.

Marina: …

Marina: Wow.

Pearl: Ya see, M? There’s some great peeps in this school! Ya just gotta dig through, and BAM! You hit gold!

Marina: I…

Marina: I love you all! I can’t say enough thanks! Especially you, Pearl!! :)

Callie: Aw, you’re welcome!

Marie: Don’t mention it.

Pearl: Hey, I’m just being honest, and I know ya need the words.

Marina: I do…

Four: Np. 

Four: So, like… I’m curious. Tell us about yourself.

Marina: Me? Well…

Marina: I’m just Octarian girl who moved here not too long ago. Right now I’m just trying to get used to things.

Four: What was the underground like?

Marina: Wasn’t the best… government sucked (heh, I couldn’t say that back down there, but I can now) and we had to go through military training alongside regular school. I specialized in combat engineering. We helped design weapons to a small extent as training until we were old enough to get a full job in the subject.

Pearl: YOU SPECIALIZED IN COMBAT ENGINEERING?!?! Whatwhatwhatwhat

Marina: Oh… I never told you that?

Pearl: NOPE

Marina: Whoops… my bad. But I actually liked combat engineering itself. Conditions kind of stank though. Octarian society is rich but government spends money more on improving the technology than increasing quality of working conditions. Is real shame.

Pearl: Dang, sorry to hear about working conditions. BUT I STILL ADMIRE YA FOR THE JOB

Marie: Damn. You were a combat engineer? That’s pretty cool! Working conditions is a shame though…

Four: My thoughts exactly

Callie: Yeah… seems like it would’ve been a much cooler job if the working conditions were better.

Pearl: SO MARINA

Pearl: YOU CAN LIKE

Pearl: MAKE A FUCKIN RIFLE?!?!

Marina: Oh no. I helped design bigger weapons like the Flooder. Basically a large traveling platform with legs that sprays bunch of ink below it.

Pearl: Oh. DATS STILL COOL THO

Callie: Must’ve been hard work!

Marina: Yes, was. Which is why I’m partially relieved my family and I moved out of the underground. It was difficult, but also fun! Sometimes. Conditions tended to make it not fun but other times they weren’t so bad since the higher-ups actually invested in improving them every once in a while.

Four: What made ya move?

Marina: My father worked for government. Basically he spied on a bunch of people to make sure no rebellions were being planned. Recently got into a falling out with ruler and got fired. We move as a act of rebellion itself.

Marie: Well that’s ironic.

Pearl: Damn, peeps all over Octarian world knew ur papa’s name?

Marina: Indeed.

Marie: I’ve got a famous relative too. My grandpa was a war hero of the Great Turf War. He’s still alive today.

Marina: Interesting.

Callie: He’s a good guy, Marina! He lives with us. I’m sure you and him would get along well.

Marina: I um, think I’ll pass, but thanks. Haven’t had greatest interactions with those veterans ever since I moved.

Callie: Oh! Sorry…

Marina: Oh no, is good.

Marina: …

Marina: Soooooo apparently I wasn’t supposed to be texting or going on social media.

Pearl: UGH. These rules are so stupid.

Marina: …

Marina: Gosh… he didn’t make that clear!

Marina: Well, I have to go. Bye!

Pearl: Thanks for textin M! See ya on the bus!

Marie: Cya!

Callie: Hope to talk to you again soon!

Four: Bye

I put my phone away. “Oh gosh… y’all think she’s gonna get extended punishment now?”

“Depends on how nice the mod is,” Marie said. “Marina said he was chill and he didn’t make it clear that she couldn’t text so he might let her off with a warning or something.”

“Goodness, I hope,” I responded.

“She seems nice though!” Callie said.

“Yep, she is,” I stated, “I just hope that she quits it with the low self-esteem. It can’t be good for her.”

“Yeah,” Four said.

The lunch period continued normally. We all started talking about video games and our grades and what not.

On the bus, I saw a limping Marina with her assistant through my window. She… didn’t seem very happy.

Gosh, that mod must’ve punished her, I thought.

When she got on the bus, she turned to me. “Hi,” she said in a sad manner.

“You got punished?”

“I just can’t with this shit…” she muttered as she sat down.

“What happened?”

“I thought he was chill, but wasn’t. Just yelled at me over it but he was more mocking than principal! Worst thing is he my moderator for whole suspension.”

“Dang… sorry about that M.”

“He kept giving me looks as I was doing my work after. Are all the darn staff in this school mean?”

“Uh… gotta be honest… mostly.”

Marina paused and a great sigh left her mouth.

“OH!” She said.

“What?”

“Pearl, almost forgot to ask you. Would like to come over my house tomorrow?”

“Your house?”

“Yeah! I want to host you as way to express gratitude! My father is allowing it. From 12pm to 6?”

“I’d love to! Lemme just text my dad.”

Marina watched me as I took out my phone eagerly and opened up my texting app.

Pearl: Yo dad 

Dad: Yeah, Pearl?

Pearl: Can I go over my friend’s house tomorrow from 12 to 6

Dad: Sure

“Alright, I can go!”

“Ah, yes! I’m so excited!”

“Can y’all just shut up?!” An Inkling a seat behind and across me said.

Only Marina was able to see him from where we were, but I said, “Dude, we’re loud a few times, fine, but most of the time we’re just speaking at a regular convo level. What’s your problem?!”

“Maybe whisper because when you’re speaking at a regular level, I can still hear ya and I don’t wanna hear Marina’s damn personal problems!”

“Serious? Just tune us out. You shouldn’t be listening regardless. We’re not WHISPERING for you,” Marina responded.

“M, lemme handle this,” I said, “Just ignore us man! Not that hard.”

“Shush, shorty. You’re only sitting with that Octarian because you have a crush on her, don’t ya?”

“WHAT?” I said.

“HEY-” Marina was going to begin with something, but I cut her off.

“Marina, PLEASE let me handle this.”

“Uh, I don’t have a crush on her dude. What, you think cuz I’m gay I can’t hang out with gals without romance? Alright then, I ban YOU from doing so with whatever gender or genders you’re interested in!”

“HAH! Nah, I’ve just noticed you’re so damn attached to her. Like, you defend her all the time! Ya got punched in the head for her! It’s like you want to be her maid or some shit! Lemme guess- you’re either secretly speciesist and don’t think she can defend herself or you love her!”

I said, “What?! I-”

Marina interrupted me, “LISTEN UP YOU-”

I turned to Marina. She was red again... I started panicking. Given her anger, one thing was clear: If Marina was going to talk to this dude, it would likely lead to a fight. 

“M! Let me-”

Marina quickly looked at me. “SHUT UP, PEARL! I’VE GOT THIS!”

“But-”

“I said SHUT UP!!”

“I don’t want you to-”

“PEARL!”

“Okay…” I had to back down. I didn’t want to get punched in the face.

She turned to the Inkling. “Listen, I don’t know what’s up with you. Pearl’s been the KINDEST soul to me! She is NOT A SPECIESIST! I’m not ready to date anybody right now, but if she had a crush on me, okay! Cool! But you’re mocking her for no good reason and putting BULLSHIT STANDARDS on us! Let me tell you. Don’t. Mess. With. Us. Got it?!”

Before the Inkling could respond, the bus driver yelled, “Marina, calm down!”

She groaned quietly in response.

“Excuse me?” The Inkling said in response. “Oh no, YOU’RE messing with the wrong guy. You dunno who I’m friends with.”

“Marina, maybe we should just igno-”

“Hah! Quit bluffing! I’m not afraid of anything!”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah!”

“Hah… we’ll see what happens. You won’t see what’s coming.”

The Inkling went on his phone. The discussion was over.

I turned to Marina and whispered to her, “Hey, are you out of your mind?!”

“What?! I stood up to bully mainly FOR YOU! You were trying to stop me! Why?!”

“You know… look, when I can handle it, let me handle it. I worry for you Marina. I worry that you’ll end up in a fight again.”

“I won’t end up in a fight.” 

“That’s not very convincing coming from someone with your temper!”

“Just… let me be! I want to go on my phone now. Thanks for the bit of help during that.”

“Alright.”

I began thinking. I knew Marina revealed a more… hostile side through this and the fight. A very kind girl was still underneath it, but gosh she had a fiery temper. It… concerned me. If she kept yelling and fighting, the consequences would keep getting worse and worse. She just kept making enemy after enemy. I told her to stand up to the speciesism. These two conflicts did not reference it to Marina, and yet they’ve been bad. Really bad. Goodness, was she going to lash out at everyone who was a dick instead of maintaining her composure? That… wouldn’t lead to good results.

I decided to stop thinking about it and just went on my phone too.

The bus came to a halt. It was at my stop.

I stood up and, before walking passed Marina, I asked her something. “Are we still on for tomorrow?”

Marina looked at me with a guilt-ridden face. She only put her head in her hands.

“I’ll… text you, Marina.”

I left the bus and started walking home.

When I made it back to my house, I immediately put my backpack on the floor, sat on the couch, and took out my phone.

Pearl: Hello?

Marina: .

Pearl: Look, chill out. You were pissed off and wanted to defend me. I’m thankful for that in fact. But… I can’t lie. I’m worried about you.

Marina: ?

Pearl: Your temper. Your kindness is one of the reasons why I like you. Even with all the bullying you have been incredibly polite. Your exoticness is intriguing to me, Marina. Your desire to sing is intriguing to me. Your past is intriguing to me. YOU are intriguing to me.

Pearl: But you can get so… nasty. Maybe you should just ignore criticism rather than stand up to it, but then people might call you a coward?! IT’S ALL JUST A MESS… Marina you can’t lose your temper that easily. If you lash out at every person who calls you a speciesist slur, not only will you end up getting a reputation for a gal with anger issues, you’ll also get in more trouble with the staff since you’ll be causing disturbances in the hallways. If you keep getting into fights, you’ll eventually get expelled. Marina, we need to fix this.

Marina: I…

Marina: I’m so sorry, Pearl. You’ve always been listening to me about my problems and this is how I repaid you… I need help...

Marina: It’s just… it’s all too much. The Three and bus situation were just so unnecessary so I… lost it.

Marina: But that behavior may carry over…

Marina: So I’ll talk to my dad later.

Pearl: That sounds good. It’s all okay.

Marina: Thank you...

Pearl: You’re welcome, M. So… are we still on for tomorrow?

Marina: If you want to come over, you’re welcome to. 12pm to 6.

Pearl: Alright, I’ll be there!

It was Friday, so I didn’t do any of my homework after school. After my convo with M, I went to my room, shut the door, and went straight to playing video games.

About fifteen minutes later, I got a new message.

Marina: Pearl, I don’t think I can host you tomorrow… I am so sorry.

Pearl: Huh? It’s fine. But what for?

Marina: …

Marina: A bunch of kids egged my house!

Pearl: Wait, what?!

Marina: Must’ve been what that Inkling on the bus was warning me about… they must’ve found my address through the virtual address book we have on the website.

Pearl: How did they even egg your house that quickly?

Marina: I don’t know!

Marina: I’m FUCKED! When my parents gets home, they’re gonna…

Pearl: Wo, calm it! I’ll be right there to help clean it up!

Marina: What?! No!

Pearl: What, you think you’ll be able to clean all of that up yourself before your parents get home?

Marina: No but...

Pearl: Exactly! I’ll be right there. What’s your address?

Marina: Pearl. You don’t have to do this. You’ve already done too much.

Pearl. IM DOOOOOOOOOOIN IT M

Marina: Okay…

Pearl: I’ll give ya a break and check the address in the virtual book. Just get started on the cleaning. I’ll be there ASAP, ya got it?

Marina: Yes Pearl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to be like most Splatoon writers and use a Twitter for updates. Handle is @Mario_Misc. I won’t be doing updates on my main Instagram account anymore.


	4. The Lawn

Pearl: Sooooo I gotta get to a friend’s house. Emergency. If I’m not back by the time y’all are home that’s y

Mom: Just be home before dark!

Dad: ^

I quickly got into my garage. It was terribly organized. Boxes everywhere, dust on all of the walls, and two bikes leaning onto my bike in a line, with mine in the center. Just perfect.

I carefully pulled at my bike’s front with one hand. Predictably, the two leaning bikes fell onto each other. No worries, I was going to fix em later. If I remembered to.

With no time to use on other things, I quickly got onto my bike and went off into the street.

Marina lived pretty close, actually. Same street, just a few blocks off from my place.

It was a cloudy, autumn day. A gentle breeze complemented the gloomy sky as the grass on people’s lawns swayed one way and then soon enough to the next. It was a bit cold out, so I was wearing a pink sweatshirt. It looked like it was going to rain soon, so I hoped Marina and I were going to be able to get this cleaning done fast. 

When I got to her house’s front yard, Marina was in the garage. She was getting out two hoses.

The house itself didn’t suffer any real damage from the eggs. Nothing was really broken. It’s just that the wood on the house was full of them.

As I walked up to Marina, she didn’t look happy, and I honestly couldn’t blame her.

“Hey…” she said with basically no emotion at all, without looking directly at me.

“Hi, so I’m guessing we’re gonna each take a hose and use it to clean off a side of the house?”

“Yep,” she said, continuing to talk in an emotionless matter. “Thanks for offer to help.”

“Well, that’s what friends do, right?”

“Yeah… it is.”

Marina stood up and offered me a hose. I took it and we both went off to the front yard.

Marina, hose in one hand, directed me to go to the right side of the house. She took the left side.

“Damn, this hose is looooonnnnnnggggg,” I commented. The hose was able to stretch from where I was back to the garage.

Marina ignored the comment and began, “Thankful, only front was egged. Picking up all remains after hosing them off should actual take longer.”

“Alrighty. So, we goin now?”

“Whenever you ready.”

“Alright!”

We both turned our hoses on and cold water sprayed out in great speeds. I looked at a concentrated Marina, as she targeted all of the eggs on her side. I did the same.

It was actually very easy. The water made the eggs go off just a few seconds after they made contact.

We finished pretty quickly. However, there was still a bunch of remains to pick up. They had all fallen in the garden right in front of the house with some… pointy plants.

“Okay, Pearl, thank for help. You can go home now.”

“What, no! I gotta help ya with the remains!”

“No… Pearl. It’s fine. I don’t want you to get hurt…”

“I won’t get hurt, M. Please let me do this.”

“Pearl, no! I’m not changing my answer!” She was running out of patience.

“I ain’t leaving till you let me help, M.” I made sure my feet were planted fully on the grass and I crossed my arms.

“Pearl, look, I tired. When I finish this shit, I just going straight to the bed. It’d be more stress-relieving if you would just let ME handle picking up remains. So PLEASE leave.”

“What do you think I am, Marina? Clumsy?”

Marina turned red. “That’s the thing! I DON’T KNOW! And I don’t know if you’ll LIE to me if I ask you if you are or not!”

“Marina, just let me do it. Please. I won’t disappoint you.”

“F… FUCK! FINE! YOU WIN! YOU FUCKING WIN!”

Things were escalating really quick, and I didn’t understand why. Marina knew me. I wasn’t the lying type. Did she really think that I wasn’t able to dodge pointy plants and handle a few scratches? “Marina, I’m not lying. I’m just trying to hel-”

“Well you know what, You NOT HELPING!! I DON’T BELIEVE YOU CAN HELP!! HAVE YOU GOTTEN AS MUCH MILITARY TRAINING AS I HAD?!?! I DON’T THINK SO! I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO STRESS ABOUT THE POTENTIAL OF YOU CUTTING YOURSELF WITH THE POINTY PLANTS OVER THERE! YEAH I GET LESS SLEEP IF DO MYSELF, BUT I JUST. CAN’T. HANDLE. ANY. MORE. STRESS! I WAS SO NERVOUS BECAUSE I DID NOT WANT THIS SHIT TO HAPPEN! I DIDN’T WANT TO ENGAGE WITH BULLIES, BUT I DECIDED TO DO SO BECAUSE I GOT OVERCONFIDENT AND LOOK WHERE I AM NOW! SUSPENSION, A SHIT TON OF ENEMIES, AND A MOTHERFUCKING EGGED HOUSE! AND NOW I’M YELLING AT MY MOST PROMINENT SUPPORTER THROUGH ALL THIS! SO DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND?!?!”

Two door slams were heard.

Two from car doors.

Marina was breathing really heavily. Her face was turning back into its usual brown color. Letting that all out must’ve calmed her down a lot.

She looked at the two individuals who exited the car. “You both… home… early…”

I was just speechless. There was man and a woman looking at Marina near the car. Both dark-skinned Octarians. One was a formally-dressed man whose skin was darker than Marina’s, yet his eyes and height were pretty damn similar to her’s. The woman was about average height, with lighter, but still brown skin. She had green, feminine eyes like Marina, but her pupils were black. The woman had long tentacles, similar to how Marina’s used to be. Her tentacles were brownish with teal ends, like Marina’s. The man’s were short and also brownish, but lacked any teal.

These were undoubtedly Marina’s parents. Oh cod…

Both Marina and I were really uncomfortable. I saw it in her face. Sheer panic ran in her eyes as she was trying to figure out what to do. Tears were running down from her face.

Marina wasn’t even looking at the adults. She just kept looking in front of her, above me. She turned to them and sighed. “Mother… Father… how much… did you see?”

The adults didn’t answer that question. The father only ran towards Marina and put her into a tight hug. Marina quickly hugged back, and she started fully crying on his left shoulder.

The mother walked up to her. “Marina, dear… you… you can tell us all about what happened…” she said in very good Inkling.

Through the crying, Marina muttered an “I need help.”

The father’s eyes showed panic. “What… what do you mean?” he said in Inkling that sounded even better than the mother’s.

“Just… EVERYTHING!”

The mother looked at me. I was just standing here, watching this whole thing play out. I felt out of place, but at the same time, not? I WAS a personal friend of Marina’s and involved in much of what has caused Marina’s stress lately, but… watching her cry into her father’s arm? Maybe a bit too personal…

I suddenly felt really guilty. She probably didn’t want me to see her this way anymore. She probably just wished I had left already rather than watching this all play out. 

“Hey,” the mother yelled out at me. I heard a bunch of mumbling in Octarian between Marina and her father in the background.

I moved my face to look towards her.

“Can you explain… all of this?” She gestured to our surroundings.

I usually wasn’t the polite kind. I really wasn’t. But for this situation? I had to be. I cleared my throat and began, “Ma’am, I… don’t mean… any disrespect. My, uh, apologies for watching this whole thing play out between you three… Basically, Marina got into a verbal fight with some guy in school - not Three - and he said he knew people. Then, her house got egged. I helped her hose it off but then I… I fucked up and wouldn’t leave her alone. She didn’t want me to go on the garden where a lot of the hosed-off eggs were because they were very pointy and she wasn’t sure if I was or wasn’t going to get hurt, and I just didn’t respect that decision. That… sparked her… speech there.” I looked down with a frown.

A few seconds passed and I heard nothing from the mother. When I looked back up, she looked at me with a pitiful expression.

“You… must be Pearl.”

“I… I am.”

“Marina told us all about you. How you didn’t even know her when she sat on the bus with you, and yet, you listened to her. How you tried to break up the fight between her and Three. How she defended you in the principal’s office…”

“I… did… do that.” I really didn’t know what to say here.

“We… we cannot thank you enough. It is perfectly fine that you were present for this… event that has just occurred. You’ve treated her with such kindness…”

“Marina’s… always had trouble with her temper. We knew that moving to Inkling society would only worsen that. We knew that Inkling society didn’t welcome Octarians with open hands, but we had no choice but to move there. Do you know why?”

I nodded.

“The… falling out happened so abruptly and the ruler had a reputation for forcing out anyone who ‘threatened’ his rule. Marina knew a decent amount of Inkling, but was not fluent. She had to be taught the rest of the language in an insanely short period of time. Not to mention, she knew nothing about Inkling culture. She knew nothing about Turf War. She knew nothing about the cultures of the other species on the surface. We had to shove so much information down her throat in such a short period of time… and now her social life is not treating her well, so please forgive her for having outbursts.”

“Oh, ma’am… I certainly understand… I’m so sorry for the situation…” Very formal indeed.

“Hey!” The father yelled towards the mother and I. “You two!”

We walked up towards the father, who had a teary, but calmer Marina in his arms, still with her head on his left shoulder.

“Please… go home Pearl… you might be better off to just never talk to me again. I’m just… I’m just a wreck.”

I said in response, “No, Marina, we… we can all go through this together.”

“Hey, shh shh shh… It’s okay. You’re not a wreck. You’re just having a hard time, Reena. You’re excellent. You’re a brilliant engineer. Don’t forget your amazing qualities.” He flashed a smile at his daughter.

“I’ll… try…” she responded.

Mr. Ida looked at me. “Pearl, we cannot thank you for everything you’ve done. You’ve been a tremendous help in all of this. Tell your parents we said hi. We’d like to get to know them!”

“I’ll… I’ll make sure to do that!”

“Thank… you… Pearl...” Marina managed to utter out.

I went up to Marina and began patting her back. “I’m… sorry for annoying you earlier, Marina.”

“It’s… it’s all fine, Pearl.” Marina said with a shaky voice. “I’m sorry for being so… emotional…”

“Hey, we all are sometimes! It’s fine!”

“Thank… you… I don’t know what… happen with tomorrow. Will… text.”

“Alright, Marina.”

“Okay, we should get you to bed, dear.” Mr. Ida said.

Marina nodded. “I… I can guide myself…” The Octarian let herself go of her father’s hug and began walking slowly into the house. The parents followed her.

“Again, we cannot expression our appreciation enough!” Mr. Ida yelled near the door. “Thank you!”

Soon enough, the door closed.

I was alone in Marina’s lawn now. I looked towards the egg remains with temptation, but I knew I couldn’t touch them.

I had to learn when to just back off. When to just accept that I was only able to help in limited ways. Because I literally just sparked a stress attack in the poor girl.

“FUCK!” I yelled to the sky.

I clumsily walked to my bike, looking down at the surface.

If tomorrow is going to happen, I thought, I have to make it a completely stress-free six hours for Marina. No matter what.

And with that thought, I mounted my bike and rode off back to my home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, I’m working on a sequel/fifth chapter for Revelation (I still don’t know which thing it’s gonna be yet) so uploads for this right now may become slightly less frequent.  
> Also, I promise this isn’t gonna be angsty the whole time. I realize that there’s a limit lol. Tone is gonna change soon for a bit.  
> Updates at @Mario_Misc on Twitter!


	5. The Hang Out

This was dreadful.

It was 12pm. I had been in my bed since 10, but sleep never came.

I sighed. Marina has confirmed to me that I was still able to come over tomorrow… alongside expressing her sorrow in like five different ways.

Everything around me was dark, but not in my head. I kept thinking about the kid on the bus… how in the world did he manage to get Marina’s house egged that fast?

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking. Was Three involved? Is anybody AFTER Marina by the bus kid’s demand? Is he not done with her yet? Will he do anything to me?! I told him off, yes, but… not the way Marina did. I hadn’t thought of it beforehand.

Suddenly, my phone started ringing.

It was probably some scammer. I thought, Who else would call at midnight?

It was Three.

I groaned and reluctantly answer the call.

“What the hell do you want?!” I whispered.

“What, I can’t call an old pal?”

“Haha, very funny. Did you fucking egg Marina’s house?”

“Ah, I was gonna talk to ya bout that!”

“Wait…”

“So the Inkling who did that? Name’s Adrian Inklai. Not-so popular guy.”

“Uh…”

“But his brother in college is! They have a really good relationship and his brother knows people who can get… well… let’s just say certain things done.”

“How-”

“He’s got a lotta followers that literally idolize him. It’s like a cult sometimes from what I hear. I wouldn’t be surprised if he texted his brother to sent some of his followers to egg Marina’s house. Considering the address book is on the school website, he must’ve sent his bro the address and then BAM! Egged house!”

“Okay but how do you know Marina’s house was egged?!”

“Oh, some dude posted a video of it on SplatNet!”

I gasped.

“Yep! EVERYBODY knows this stuff now! Ain’t it just the WORST possible thing?” He said with a taunting tone. I just knew he was smirking.

I was speechless.The AUDACITY of these people! I always knew my school was a bit rough in terms of behavior, but I didn’t think they’d do these blatantly mean-spirited things… at least, before Marina came. What was the trigger for all of this? Just speciesism? Or was something else involved?

At least this meant we had the chance to figure out who exactly did it...

“How have I never heard of this Adrian guy before?”

“He’s usually not exactly like this. Usually he’s just quiet and handles beef outside of school. Things do go around, but I suppose you don’t hang out with the type of people that talk about this stuff. He tends not to be belligerent in a school environment. Usually he’d text ya later about an incident however he could rather than confront you directly there. Why? I dunno! And I dunno why this situation is any different.”

“From what you’re saying, he’s a damn coward, but y’know, I’m gonna be taking all the things you say with a grain of salt.”

“Fair, Pearl. Very fair. Heheheh...”

“Hmph… oh, another question. WHY are you telling me all of this? Especially at midnight?!”

“Hey, I’m a busy boy! Baseball takes up a lotta time! I’m telling ya this crap for your own benefit… to maybe… get BACK at him?!”

“Uh… that’s Marina call, not mine. And why does it seem like you WANT this to happen? Don’t you hate Marina?!”

“Listen, Pearl, he fucked with you too, and you yelled at him, so congratulations, you’re on his hit list for sure! I know what his brother is like, trust me on that…”

He chuckled. “And y’know, I fucking despise Marina with all my guts! Suspension ain’t fun, Pearl! But…” He started whispering, seeming closer to the phone now. “Ya wanna know another thing I got suspended for?”

“A fight with some other kid back last year. I remember.”

He got farther from the phone and began speaking at a regular tone again. “Yeah. Hmph… nobody insults my mother and gets away with it. She’s got some health problems, yes, but I ain’t just gonna sit around while you’re-”

“Three, get to the point!”

“Heheheh, anyways, that kid happened to be a pretty close friend of Adrian, so y’know what Adrian did? He told his brother to arrange a fight with me at his house front yard. He’s always been an asshole, Pearl. And y’know, I kinda…”

I finished his sentence. “Lost that fight.”

“Oh, no no, it was more of a… eh… tie?”

“So THAT’S why you came back to school a few days after the first fight with a broken arm!”

Three groaned. “So, what I’m saying is, I’d pay good money to sit down, eat some popcorn, and watch a good fight in which Marina kicks Adrian and his brother’s asses! C’mon Pearl, you and Marina both have feisty sides. And hey, it doesn’t have to happen on school grounds! We can all agree to keep it a secret, too!”

“Look, after what you did to Marina, I don’t give a crap about what you want. I’ll act upon HER will, not your’s.”

His voice lowered to a sinister tone. “Hmph… trust me, you’ll want my help soon enough. They aren’t done with you or Marina.”

And with that, he hung up.

Well shit. I began thinking to myself, It’s like people were naturally assholes or something. So a gang-like group may have beef with Marina now and another threatening kid is trying to add fuel to the fire. But y’know what? I ain’t falling for it. I ain’t telling Marina a THING tomorrow. I’m sure she wants to know the info but I can’t in any way try to add more stress to her day.

I ended up falling asleep from exhaustion not long after that call. My brain was just overloaded.

Finally, it was time. With a bag of chips in my backpack, I mounted my bike and set off to Marina’s house.

For the time being, I was leaving my thoughts about the incident with the bus kid yesterday behind me. I CANNOT mess this day up.

It was cold outside, but the wind was light. I was wearing a thin pink jacket, zippered up to the bottom of my neck.

When I got to Marina’s house, I noticed almost immediately that all egg remains were completely gone. Parents must’ve fixed the front yard up.

I eagerly placed my bike in their driveway and ran to the door with my backpack. However, right when I was about to knock on the door, a voice boomed from inside. Curious, I listened closely and realized that it was Mr. Ida yelling in Octarian. Great, I came at the PERFECT time.

I reluctantly knocked on the door. Suddenly, the voice went quiet.

A grinning Mr. Ida opened the door. “Come in, come in, Pearl!”

I walked into a house that was rather moderate- not that rich and not that poor. However, I couldn’t help but notice the clear cultural impact the Octarian heritage of the family had on the household. There were plenty of souvenirs on the brown wooden tables displaying the Octarian national flag with prideful phrases and Octopuses. There was plenty of portraits on the green walls. Many were very formal and were black and white. There was one of a Octarian girl who was clearly Marina when she was around 14 or so, standing next to what was clearly her father with intimidating faces on. Both had goggles on their foreheads, right above their eyes. Another one was a portrait displaying Marina’s father and mother side-by-side, with the mother carrying a baby Octarian- I’m sure it was Marina. There were no portraits of any other people besides one with Mr. Ida and some giant Octopus with a large yellow shiny thing on his head, though he did not at all look related to Marina’s family. Marina was clearly an only child.

“You like the house?” Mr. Ida asked.

“It’s cool. Lotsa Octarian culture here.”

“You bet, kiddo. I’ve seen you’re brought chips. You could just bring them to Reena. She’s upstairs. To the left.”

“Alright. Thanks for letting me in!” I quickly walked up the stairs with a huge grin on my face as I heard Mr. Ida pick up an object - I’m presuming a phone - and beginning to speak in Octarian again… loudly.

I opened the door to Marina’s room and wow- it was certainly unique.

The walls were painted teal. I immediately noticed an Octarian flag proudly displayed right above Marina’s bed, which was on the left side of the room, alongside many more portraits of Marina, her family, and others. There were a bunch of trophies proudly displayed on a shelf, alongside merch from many famous bands- plushies, CDs, etc. To the right side, on the upper-hand corner, there were a bunch of papers scattered on the floor- drawings of weapons.

Marina herself was peacefully asleep on her bed. Had yesterday really taken that much of a toll on her? Was I supposed to wake her up?

I was going to ask Mr. Ida, but the faint yelling I heard from downstairs convinced me otherwise. I decided to just awaken her. She probably would have been sad to have missed the opportunity to hang out with me considering she invited me here.

I placed the bag of chips on the floor near the door. After, I walked up to her bed and tapped her left cheek. “Yo…” I said at a moderate volume.

Slowly, Marina’s teal eyes opened up. She looked to the left and saw me, and immediately sat up and faced me.

Her face red, she said, “OH! Uh- Pearl! I… um…”

“You were asleep.”

“Yeah! I-”

“It’s fine, M.”

“It’s… it’s not! I… I gotta do better...” she said with a frown.

“Marina, you can't be getting so upset with yourself over these petty situations. It’s not worth getting mad about. Now, let’s just put this aside and enjoy ourselves, alright?”

Marina sighed. “Okay.”

“Aaaaaaaaanyways, I observed your room a bit and I gotta say, you’ve got some cool shit here!”

“Heh heh… a lot of Octarian stuff.”

“I’ve noticed that’s been a common theme. Was in your living room too.”

“Well, what can say? Family really is proud of species.”

“Yeah, but I think it all looks really cool!”

“Heh… I appreciate interest, Pearl. Glad an Inkling can like Octarian stuff.”

“Yeah. So, what do you wanna do?”

“You wanna talk about music?”

“Hell yeah! What have you been doing?”

“I been actually writing a few things. Not rap, but you might like it? Not sure.”

“You got a recording or somethin?”

“I have some beats and written-down lyrics, but I in no way ready to do any singing at all. But, my parents are going to be sign me up for Inkling lessons!”

“C’mon, M, I’m sure you are able to sing right now!”

“No, Pearl. I not saying this out of a lack of confidence. I tried and… I honestly terrible. My damn accent gets in way. My pronunciation is already shit. When I’m singing, it’s just worse.”

Great job, me. You did it. You had to make Marina bring up some self-esteem issues of her’s that she clearly didn’t want to talk about. Props to you.

Marina gave me a concerned look. “Uh, are you okay, Pearl?”

I noticed that I was really red and had a cringing face on. “Just… I’m sorry for bringing that crap up.”

I was expecting Marina to say something like “Oh, it’s okay.” Instead, she laughed. “Just how many times are we gonna apologize to each other?”

I laughed back as my face quickly turned back to normal. “Yeah, we have been apologizing a lot.”

“Heh heh… yeah. But once I lose some of my accent, I hope to become a well-known musician!”

“I’m sure ya will. My dream is to become the freshest rapper in the city!”

“Oh, do you have any lyrics?”

“I actually do! Wait, show me your beats first!”

“Alright, lemme just get my laptop!” The Octarian enthusiastically ran to the right side of the room and picked up the device. She signed in, typing in her password at a great speed. She clicked her touchpad a few times and then turned back to me. “Oh! You should probably put on headphones!” The girl took a huge pair from the dresser next to her and threw them at me. Walking back to me, she said, “Go listen! Hope ya like it!”

As I plugged Marina’s headphones into her laptop, I saw that the girl had a giant smile on her face. Seeing Marina so enthusiastic about her Beats was actually pretty darn cute.

The song was short - only around a minute long - but damn it was pretty catchy. Marina certainly had potential. In fact, I was grinning throughout the song, my ears taking in each beat of the great melody. Seeing Marina’s face smile even more as she saw me grin ended up distracting me from the song itself at times.

Was it normal to think your friend was cute? I… didn’t know. Not to mention me finding her attractive… Marina was definitely one of the prettiest people I’ve ever seen. I didn’t give a crap about what my classmates said. And now with these two things combined in an environment free of any conflict? I had to try really hard to hold back a blush.

Was I going to get feelings from this? I didn’t know that either. Marina and I had a totally platonic relationship at the time, but I thought Marina was honestly just… something else. She was interesting, adorable, talented, and not to mention, STUNNING. Marina was awesome, even if she had a bit of problems with her behavior. Her adorableness made me think more deeply into my feelings about someone who I only had a platonic relationship with...

“So… you like it?”

“Do I like it? Hell yeah! That was some catchy stuff you made there, Marina!”

“R-really?!”

“Yep!”

“Oh! THANK YOU PEARL!” She pulled me into a tight hug. “THANK YOU SO MUCH!”

My muffled voice responded, “I just complimented your song. It’s not like I saved your life or anything.”

Marina releases me from the hug. “It’s just… I so glad somebody actually likes my stuff! I been working very hard, trying to make things that get my name out there- things that… might just change people opinions on me, so I’m so glad you found it to be good!” Her smile quickly disappeared right after she said that. “You… think this will work right? People won’t hate me as much?”

“Uh, truth be told…” I said. This was supposed to be a stress free thing, and Marina was bringing this up. ACTUAL truth be told, I was completely unsure of whether or not it would work. If people saw how talented Marina was, then she’d probably get some popularity. However, this conflict is one due to species. This may not do anything. “I’m sure it could work, Marina!” was what I ended up saying. A bit of an exaggeration of my actual thoughts, but it’s not that far fetched and it was worth trying anyways to me.

She formed her hands into fists and shook them. “Good! Very, very good!” She laughed.

I couldn’t help but smile. I was EXCITED to be with Marina and witness this side of her. “Glad you’re happy, Marina. Oh, I have some rap lyrics for ya! But first, you want chips?”

“Chips? Sure!”

I ran to the bag, and then quickly brought it to Marina on the bed.

“Open it up! You get first taste!”

“Alright, thanks.” She carefully took one chip and put it on her mouth. Then, a smile crept onto her face. “This is… really good! They have similar chips in the underground, but this is even better!”

“Yeah, they are real good! They’re my go-to snack!”

We both grabbed a few more chips to much on. After, I said, “Anyways, I memorized some lyrics I wrote, but they aren’t really…” I paused with a grimace.

“Really… what?”

“I dunno… good? Compared to your’s?”

“Oh, um… well if you not comfortable performing right now, then trust me, you don’t have to. Still, believe you’ll get it right! Practice make perfect!”

I grinned. “Ya know it! I ain’t gonna give up! I never do! Except for schoolwork!”

Marina chuckled. “Actually…” she said, chewing on a chip, “I think I can help you come up with lyrics!”

My jaw dropped. “You’d be willing to do that?”

“Yeah! I told you I wrote some lyrics. I have some experience.”

She sighed. “I tend to write about current events. Heh… one time I wrote piece against government but father forced me to burn it.”

“Dang, so you’ve been doin this for years?”

“I’ve always wanted to become musician. I’ve only done this writing as hobby but I been trying to write songs for years. I… even wrote few lyrics bout fight…”

No. No. We are NOT entering this territory.

“Marina, let it go,” I said sternly.

She looked at me with a confused look. “I… I did but you were curious about songs wrote so I was being honest…”

“Uh… I guess but…” I paused, with Marina not letting go of her confused look.

“On another note, what HAPPY lyrics have you written?”

“Well, I wrote a song dedicated to the most famous Octarian combat engineer in history.”

“Really?”

“Yes. He’s just… everything he did was absolutely STUNNING. His weapons were top-tier for Great Turf War era, and work on the Great Octoweapons were JUST PERFECT. When I was younger, I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to be a war hero for my country. I wanted to be remembered in history as a great Octarian combat engineer… but hey, singing is good route too, right?”

“Yeah, it is. So, how do ya do it? How do ya put these life experiences to song?”

“You need to be creative with it,” she said, as she opened her laptop once again with a grand smile. I watched as she went into a folder with many typed documents. “Look here!”

I saw Octarian and Inkling text on the document displayed. It was one song, but translated into both languages.

“This was meant to go with that beat I talked to you about earlier. Read it, I hope you like it!”

From that moment onward, my admiration for Marina skyrocketed. The girl was even more talented as a songwriter than I initially thought. She was able to pack in so much emotion and clear passion, while making it work as lyrics to a catchy song.

I read song after song after song. Marina began teaching me how to write songs. Even if they weren’t rap at the start, they’d still help me get the hang of things.

Marina’s passion made the lessons all the more entertaining. She asked me questions to get me thinking about my life to get ideas. She made me write down anything that came to my head. The way she managed to seamlessly get me to transfer those ideas into lyrics showed she was a true EXPERT.

Much of the hang out consisted of the lessons and some side conversations, and by its end, I learned A TON. Talking with Marina about our favorite bands, discussing about some funny life events of mine, and more were great. However, 6pm had approached quickly and I eventually had to leave.

At around 3:30, we had a dinner-like meal consisting of Octarian food. I had to say, it didn’t taste as good as Inkling food but it was still delicious, and seeing Marina enjoy it so much was better than the food itself...

...yeah. I clearly had SOME feelings for Marina by the end of it. Did I want to date her? No… well, I wasn’t sure. Just, when Marina was so carefree, when nobody was bothering her, she unveiled a truly amazing side of herself. Not that her more reserved side was wrong, but this new side revealed was just charming as ever... We were able to crack jokes at each other and Marina was smiling so much from stuff I said to her. She was just… amazing…

I didn’t know if Adrian and his gang were going to do more crap, but at the time, I just didn’t care. The day was great, and I couldn’t wait until Marina was done with suspension so we would be able to have lunch together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking three years to complete this lol


	6. Misjudgement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi

Soon enough, the next week began. Marina had two days of suspension left, and then we were going to finally get the chance to eat lunch together. Ever since that hang out we had, a bittersweet feeling was over my head. I thought,  _ This girl shows so much talent, so much potential, so much kindness, so much beauty, but it is possible that none of it will end up mattering at all. If this Adrian guy truly goes overkill over a small situation like the incident on the bus on Friday, I fear for what Marina’s response may be. She can’t take another incident like the one with Three. I just hope the therapy she’s getting improves her emotionally. _

 

I left my house with a terrible feeling in my gut that something was going to go VERY wrong. I had no clue what was going to happen on this bus ride. I had no idea if Adrian and his friends would confront me. I just could not quit thinking about it. Would they confront us? Would they end up being more reserved about it? Considering the public nature of the egging and Friday’s match of who can get pissed off the most, I doubted it. Like Three said, something made this situation different. 

 

However, the bus ride to school on Monday was surprisingly normal. Marina and I talked about our least favorite school subjects and there was absolutely no word about Friday’s incident uttered to them at all. It was ironic, really. I heard Adrian talking with plenty of people on the bus like he was pals with them, and by plenty of people I mean PLENTY OF PEOPLE, yet not one of them brought it up to us.

 

Things changed when I got into the building. It was incredibly overwhelming. It seemed like every student knew about the incident and knew that it involved Marina and I. I was constantly yelled questions. I heard comments telling me how daring and brave I was. Other comments stated that I was a dumbass. A few derogatory insults towards Marina were in the mix, but I decided to ignore them. Those people were not worth giving energy to. The typical chaotic hallways were even worse from my view since this time, my friend and I were a major factor of the chaos. 

 

I frowned at a sudden, new thought. Marina probably already had a bad reputation due to her fight with Three, but now? She had an argument with yet another guy and everybody and their mother knew about it. Marina was probably going to find out from one of her classmates about who Adrian was. Of course I couldn’t let this happen, but what would I be able to do about it? I couldn’t just go to every classmate and explain that Marina could not know that something absolutely awful could happen to her because she was definitely not going to be able to take the stress.

 

Later, I told my lunchmates about the situation with Marina and not knowing who Adrian was and  _ thank cod  _ they swore not to tell. Every swear counted. Every delay for the stress counted.

 

—

 

Other than those issues, the school day was merely typical. Some dumb quizzes, test announcements, generic bullying comments from time to time from assholes in the hallway. Just a normal day.

 

Then, I walked out of the building. School was done. There my bus was, right at the end of the sidewalk alongside all the others.

 

“Psst, c’mere, Houzuki.”

 

I turned around, trying to locate the voice.

 

A tall figure, slightly shorter than Marina, appeared in the alley by the school. He gestured at me to come.

 

_ Don’t trust strangers… _ My mom’s voice blared in my head but… that guy knowing my last name was too concerning to ignore.

 

“Uh…” I walked up to the figure, “How the fuck do you know my name, big guy?”

 

He sighed. “It’s not ‘big guy’. It’s Adrian’s younger brother… from the grade below you.  _ The _ Adrian. You know…”

 

Fuck.

 

I groaned. “What do you want? It was a stupid verbal disagreement! Nothin more! He already helped egg Marina’s goddamn house!”

 

“Look gal, chill, okay? Nevermind all of that…”

 

“ _ Nevermind?! NEVERMIND?!?! _ ” I’ve had it with this shit, y’know?! My friend’s mental state is getting  _ fucked  _ because of people like you!”

 

“I… I know, Pearl!” he said. “I… I know… and… I apologize. Really…”

 

“Um…”

 

“I had no part in this until A forced me to talk to you! Please, I’m not… for this… I just… gotta deliver a message…”

 

I sighed. “I’m sorry dude.”

 

“No…  _ I’m  _ sorry… Anyways, A wants to… make a deal.”

 

“A deal…”

 

“Yeah… do you know Three?”

 

“Unfortunately.”

 

“Well, he wants to take revenge on him for losing a fight.”

 

“Okay…”

 

“He once saw Three  _ vaping _ without him knowing  _ countless _ times across campus. He basically wants you to try to get a picture of him vaping so he can get expelled or… suspended for a really, really long time. In exchange, he won’t do anything related to that… incident on the bus between him, you, and Marina nor will he bother you ever again.”

 

Oh… Well, this was something. Snitching… was not something I was a fan of. But Three? After all of his shit? I considered it. Yet I wondered whether or not I could trust these people. I didn’t want to cause  _ more  _ beef between Three, me, and Marina, but my thirst for revenge towards Three was honestly so much higher than for Adrian. What Adrian did was awful, but at least nobody was physically assaulted.

 

Even so, this brother seemed genuine, and why would they screw me over? A good deal is a good deal.

 

I thought about what Marina would say… and I simply had no clue. What  _ would be  _ Marina’s response?

 

As for me? I thought that this was going to  help, but this is more of a Marina thing than a Pearl thing. She is the best judge.

 

“Oh shit!” The brother said after glancing at Pearl from his watch. “Pearl, meet back here tomorrow with an answer. I gotta catch the bus before I get deserted here! Capiche?”

 

“Alright, fine. Have fun doing whatever the hell you do.”

 

I turned around and the frontmost bus was leaving.

 

Shit.

 

I ran as fast as I could, hoping that whichever bus mine was wasn’t unreachable but… I was too late.

 

“FUCK!” I yelled. Soon enough, all the buses were gone.

 

My parents were at work. My friends were either staying late or just left already. I had to wait.

 

“AH!” Suddenly, my tentacles got yanked, and I started getting dragged somewhere. I tried my  _ damn  _ best to stop this - arm flailing, yelling, you name it - but… nothing happened.

 

I hated how this school was in the middle of the woods.

 

I was brought to some discreet location- some passageway near the school at its dead end. Upon getting thrown in front of the attacker, I see who he was- Three. 

 

“Heh heh… I see that you hate my guts, yeah?” He was holding an electronic cigarette in his left hand. Of course he vaped…

 

“What the hell do you want from me?”

 

“Heh heh heh… oh… you think you’re so secretive, aren’t ya?” He laughed again. “You think that I’m not seeing what you’re doing?”

 

I was fucked. Here I was, with no good way to escape, with Three right in front of me, who I’m sure was going to beat the shit out of me.

 

“How did you-”

 

“Y’know Pearl, I’m not stupid. But  _ you  _ certainly are!” He started laughing again. “I had suspicions that you were going to try to get revenge on me in some way… even if it meant collaborating with folk who can’t be trusted. But hey, you’re a clear total dumbass, so I was right to be suspicious! Oh, and also I always vape after school, even when I’m suspended. I was looking out for some secret locations!”

 

I didn’t have a proper response to that. He was… a dick, a total dick, but… I  _ was  _ a dumbass. I didn’t go into this not thinking at all but still, I shouldn’t have taken any chances. Not to mention that I should’ve been more careful for Three, even if there was no indication that he went out to vape after school previously. Dammit…

 

“I never agreed to it, Three.”

 

“It’s the thought that counts! Heh heh… Now… How about  _ I  _ make a deal with you?”

 

This guy was insane.

 

He continued, “Now, you see this over here?” He put the e-cigarette right in my face.

 

“Y-Y-Yeah…”

 

“Heh… Now Pearl, have you ever  _ tasted  _ one of these things before?”

 

“Uh… no…”

 

“Perfect!” He got the e-cigarette away from me. “Okay, you realize that the school absolutely  _ despises  _ vaping, yes?”

 

“Yeah… I know they do...”

 

“Excellent,” he said with a sinister tone. “Pearl, you and me? We can  _ be  _ something!”

 

I sighed. “I’m not taking your deal from last time.”

 

“Oh, no no no… That deal is dead.  _ This  _ deal, though? Here’s what I mean- you and I can be  _ partners _ in  _ chaos _ … You get my drift?”

 

This guy was really making me pissed… “It’s not happening,” I said firmly.

 

“Oh, are you sure about that?” He brought the e-cigarette to my face again. “Talk to this, Pearl!”

 

I groaned. “Get that out of my  _ goddamn  _ face!”

 

“Oh… Oh Pearlie… you don’t want this? You don’t want to try out vaping? Not even just one taste?”

 

“ _ No _ because I don’t want to get punished and I don’t want to  _ die _ .”

 

“Well then, Pearl…” He pulled the e-cigarette away from me again. Let’s start a  _ rumor _ …”

 

“Shut. Up.”

 

“You either get the collaboration or the e-cig… Marina or your school career…”

 

I whispered, “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

 

“ _ I’m not! _ ” And there the e-cigarette was in my face again. He took out his phone as well. My face turned red out of sheer panic. “Pearl… detention… suspension… maybe even expulsion… I have a camera… Your career can get  _ fucked _ … and you can prevent that without any harm to you!”

 

“I’m  _ not  _ putting any more stress on Marina, you prick!”

 

“But Pearlie…  _ everybody  _ will know that you vape! You’ll become a potential addict, just like you said! You don’t want to risk your  _ life  _ over some Octavio puppet now, do you?”

 

I didn’t respond.

 

“Come on now, Pearl…” He brought the e-cigarette closer. “Tell me a secret of Marina’s… True or false! That’s the absolute  _ beauty  _ of rumors!”

 

“ _ You… son of a bitch… _ ” I hissed.

 

“Vaping, Pearl, could ruin you.”

 

“You racist asshats have  _ already  _ fucked with Marina enough!”

 

“Give me a break, Pearl… You don’t  _ really  _ like her, do ya?”

 

“She’s a good person… No… A  _ damn great  _ one… One who struggles because of severe pressure and anxiety but an amazing person nonetheless! Three, you’re  _ nothing  _ compared to her. You’re just jealous, I’m sure.”

 

He sighed. “ _ One _ last chance, Pearl. You’ll get the e-cig, or  _ I’ll  _ get the beans.”

 

He kept bringing it closer… and closer… and closer.

 

I thought  _ hard _ . My  _ life  _ was able to get fucked over by just having one vape… If I didn’t become addicted, my reputation was able to still get screwed, and so was my school career!”

 

Yet, how the  _ hell  _ was Marina going to respond to  _ me  _ starting a rumor about her? She was already mentally unhinged by all of this… and who could blame her? Coming into a society that’s insanely racist to her species- being the only person in said species to attend a school full of racists- getting suspended over a fight, getting her house egged, and so much more… There was already the Adrian identity shit… and Three was right- I couldn’t trust him.

 

But… if I had to choose between taking a chance at ruining my life and making my friend’s mental situation even worse…

 

“Okay, okay, okay!” I said as the e-cigarette was almost touching my face.

 

“I’ll… start… a rumor…” I just couldn’t bring myself to mess up my future. I’m sorry, Marina.

 

“Good girl... Now, I want you to say the following  _ in a natural manner  _ as I record you- Marina is not really the biggest fan of Inklings.” He laughed.

 

No.

 

No…

 

Holy crap.

 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me...”

 

“Okay, do you really have a choice?”

 

“Fuck. You.”

 

“Oh, so you want the e-cig instead?”

 

What the  _ hell  _ was I going to do? I couldn’t do either of these… I had to act drastically. I… was not going to be able to handle the guilt of messing with Marina more, either.

 

I thought, and thought, and thought, and thought, and decided on one thing, quickly and worriedly, yet confidently.

 

I was going to bite any damn bullets if I had to, even if I was incapable of handling it. With new confidence, I was ready.

 

“If you don’t speak, I’ll give you the cig, okay?”

 

I didn’t respond. I just stared at him.

 

He laughed as he brought the e-cigarette gradually closer again. I still didn’t budge.

 

“You really care more about that Octarian than your own well-being? What a dork you are!”

 

I  _ still  _ didn’t respond. I even began smiling.

 

“Oh… a smile… Is that what I see?” he said as he continued to bring the e-cigarette closer. “I’m sure you’re smiling because you know it’ll be the last smile you’ll ever have, yeah?”

 

My smile merely widened. The e-cigarette was almost touching my face, and with that, I was finally able to execute my plan.

 

Through complete fear and anger, I punched Three in the face with all my strength. His balance weakening and him temporarily stunned, I made a run for it.

 

Self-defense. Perfect.

 

I hoped with my entire life that I’d be able to outrun Three. Despite him being much fitter than I am, if I take enough turns, I had the chance of losing him due to his injuries.

 

I felt  _ really  _ good punching him. Asshole deserved it.

 

I turned onto the sidewalk of the stores near where we just were and kept turning onto alleys and different streets. I seemed to have lost Three after a couple of minutes, if he had ever begun chasing me in the first place.

 

God fucking dammit.

 

I laughed. I laughed out of relief and because of just how utterly absurd this whole scenario was. I had just punched someone. Self-defense, but still.

 

Not sibling/amigo light fighting-type shit. I punched that motherfucker in the face.

 

What was gonna happen? I was probably gonna get a dean’s summonce, or something along those lines, but they hated Three. I was damn sure they were gonna believe me. Even if they didn’t like Marina, at least she’s not Three.

 

And then, a sudden realization tore through me.

 

Marina was on the bus alone surrounded by utter asshats.

 

_ Oooooohhhhh you’ve gotta be kidding me. _

 

I whipped out my phone and I saw ten missed calls and multiple texts from- you guessed it- Marina.

 

Marina: Pearl, where are you? You on bus today?

 

She called a few times shortly after. Minutes later, more calls. These all screamed desperate.

 

I quickly went and called Marina.

 

“P-P-P-P-P-P… Pearl?” Marina said with an anxious voice.

 

“Marina, is everything okay?”

 

Marina seemed to be breathing really quickly and really heavily. “N-N-N-N-N-N-No… please… come to Sea Road, at corner of it and Anchor Street… please…”

 

“Of course, M! I’ll be right there!”

 

Marina wasn’t very far. A few blocks. And yet, the jog (well, it was really a sprint) there felt like it was taking hours.

 

I finally had some time to think by myself with no distractions.

 

I realized that… I was rather naive… just in general.

 

It wasn’t just a one-time thing like the lawn bullshit. I actually made the choice of talking to Adrian’s brother-cousin-whatever at all.

 

It was predictable as fuck. Of course they were going to trap me, or screw me over in the end. They were never able to be trusted, no matter what Adrian’s blahblahblah said.

 

What a  _ goddamn _ idiot I was.

 

And the lawn thing. My own caring nature got the better of me and I made Marina cry in front of her parents.

 

It wasn’t just either of these two. I realized that this had been a recurring theme.

 

Being friends with an edgelord like Three. Talking shit about school in the hallways, making me ripe for teachers to prey upon me.

 

Some other bullshit too. It was all bullshit. Everything.

 

I needed to improve, but… I just needed to focus on getting to Marina first.

 

Soon enough, I saw the tall girl in the distance. She was sitting down on the floor, face in her hands, hands in front of her neck, on the grass opposite of the grass connected to the nearby house, though the house was rather far away.

 

She was… definitely crying.

 

Oh gosh…

 

“Marina!” I yelled as I ran to her once I reached her block.

 

Yeah, Marina was sobbing crazily. When I got to her, she revealed her face, which was full of cuts.

 

Another fight.

 

“Marina, what in cod’s name happened?!”

 

“Th-Th-Th-They just… all attack me! I… try fight back, but no work!”

 

“How in the-”

 

“Adrian did nothing on bus ride to in order to give impression he was done! He send someone to distract you so you would miss the bus, and  _ you fell for it _ , and they just…” More tears came out of Marina’s eyes. “They told me everything… How influential they were… How I  _ did  _ fuck with wrong people… Everyone was there to verify… Even  _ bus driver  _ did nothing to stop this shit! And then… I just get thrown off at random stop! Have no idea where am! I… I  _ scared _ , Pearl! I… I need help…”

 

“Marina… I’m… I’m sorry…”

 

“I want…” she said through tears, “I want… Papa… Want… my dad…”

 

“Your pa?”

 

“No… I… I  _ need  _ him…”

 

“Okay… Okay… You got your dad’s cell?”

 

“My phone is… shattered into millions of pieces on bus floor… but remember his cell…”

 

I quickly whipped out my phone and dialed the number Marina told me.

 

“Hello? Who is this?” The Octarian man said through the phone. 

 

“Uh… hello… It’s Pearl, Marina’s friend from school that you saw the uh… other day… You’re on speaker, by the way.”

 

“Oh, why hello, Pearl. Not to be blunt but… what is making you call me?”

 

“Uh… well-”

 

“Is that… my daughter crying in the background?”

 

“Well…”

 

“Give the phone to her. I want to speak with her.”

 

Pearl obliged, and listened in on the conversation.

 

“Ses, pon…”

 

“Hello, daughter... What’s wrong?”

 

“Uh… the bullies at school…  _ Nam ud fayun _ !” The girl only cried harder.

 

“Marina, they  _ fought _ you?! Again?!”

 

“Nes gani, pon! I knew that you’d erh hoi!”

 

“I’m not mad, Marina… Just… calm down… Remember what I’ve been telling you, yes? Take some deep breaths…”

 

“Deep breaths don’t work, father…”

 

“Marina… I want you to remember back underground… Those times we went to the park together, yeah! We, me and your ma, would put you on the swing and push you forward and back… The joy on your face as you went flying…”

 

“Yem, suk hebes om Vall Octavi ek Cayn Octavi seh mij ber…”

 

“I… know that this move was a big change for you. I just… want you to think back. Remember all the fun times. Know that… those times are still very much possible. The parks are right there! Go with Pearl, go with Callie and Marie too! Go, have fun! Be optimistic… know that… this isn’t the end! You can still thrive through all of this! Remember all those movie nights we used to have? You and me? We could have those, too! We just gotta go pickin movies…”

 

Marina’s breathing gradually began to lessen. “I… I guess, father…”

 

“Now, think about those and calm down…”

 

“I guess… those are good things to look forward too. Have not explored Inkopolis much yet…”

 

“Ya see? Now, Marina… are you calm?”

 

“I… don’t know…”

 

“I want you to keep imagining that swing… going forward and backwards. You, just a small octopus, swinging with glee. And knowing that soon enough, you’ll experience that kind of fun again.”

 

Marina sighed. “Alright, father… thank you…”

 

“Great… Now, come on, daughter... You know those bullies are merely blind and can’t recognize the wonderful young woman you’ve become, yeah?”

 

“They have… so much power…”

 

“You want to know what has more power, though? The school. The law.”

 

“Neither of them will give two yemuts about me…”

 

“We can… at least try to get things done. I  _ will  _ make sure these people who’ve been pestering you don’t get off scot-free.”

 

“Thank you, father… Thanks a lot…”

 

“So, my daughter, tell me what exactly is going on?”

 

“I… don’t know… People with much power want me hurting! I don’t know what more they’ll do! I’m… with Pearl right now… Everybody ganged up on me and fought me and then threw me off bus at random stop! I’m… near corner of Anchor Street and Sea Road…”

 

“I’m already heading there, Marina. I… I’m sorry.”

 

“Dad…” Marina was starting to choke up again.

 

“Daughter?”

 

“I… I just… want to be alone… Live in own little bubble with family and friends only… You, Pearl, Mommy...”

 

“I understand, Marina, but… that’s not how the world works. When presented with a problem, you have to face it.”

 

“I… know, father… but… I sometimes feel like I don’t just want it… but I  _ need  _ it…”

 

“Again, I understand, okay? Pearl understands. Mom understands. We’re with you and will never leave your side. Now, I’ll be there very soon, Marina. Just stay put, got it?”

 

“Okay, father. Thank you…”

 

And with that, the call ended. It was just Marina and I now. The tall girl turned around at me, with a teary face, and walked towards me. She kneeled down at my confused face and hugged my small body  _ tightly _ . It was… a very nice, comfy feeling…

 

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I wanna say sorry for putting this one on a three month hiatus. I got pretty occupied by other fic ideas. I dunno when the next update will be but it’ll be in less than three months for sure. I hope the chapter being extra long was good compensation.  
> Well, I hope this was an interesting and enjoyable read. Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!  
> Follow me on Twitter (@Mario_Misc) for a bunch of Pearlina shitposts and writing updates.  
> Also, be sure to join the Pearlina Discord Server. A lot of great people there! https://discord.gg/kUAubFV


	7. Guilt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s angst hours again gamers

You know, I don't cry very often. Really, I’ve just become numb to bullshit insults thrown around at me, and other than those, I simply have been lucky in terms of lacking many hardships worth crying about.

 

But things, well, changed.

 

When this girl was hugging me- this girl who had gone through so much in the span of a few days, and could’ve possibly gone through more stuff underground… I just… lost any control over my tears.

 

Because… I realized that I could’ve prevented this.

 

If I wasn’t so naive…  _ no _ … so  _ idiotic _ … I thought I would’ve maybe been able to do something… to stop any physical harm to Marina on that bus. They had to have distracted me for a grand reason, no?

 

And yet, I was being hugged and thanked by the person who suffered because of me. This girl, with her long arms around me… I couldn’t help but have a warm, nice feeling in my chest. This was the most affectionate we had ever been at this point and… I’m not sure how to really describe that  _ feeling _ .

 

This girl… She was absolutely lovely, with issues, but…  _ damn _ …

 

I had hurt her horrifically. I had, at that time, just  _ realized  _ that, and that realization was  _ severe _ . Through the tears over my own damned mind, why was I feeling so… so much will to… just… embrace her? Rather than just isolate myself and torture myself over my decisions?

 

I wanted to hug Marina with all my might, listen to her wonderful music, look in awe at her adorable face… I…

 

I wanted to kiss her.

 

I wanted to…  _ fucking _ kiss this girl who  _ wasn’t  _ ready for dating. She’s been in this damned country for a few  _ days  _ and is going through a shitty time.

 

Was she even attracted to girls?

 

Not that that mattered at this time… What was  _ wrong  _ with me?

 

On that bus. The first encounter with Adrian. 

 

_ “Listen, I don’t know what’s up with you. Pearl’s been the KINDEST soul to me! She is NOT A SPECIESIST! I’m not ready to date anybody right now, but if she had a crush on me, okay! Cool! But you’re mocking her for no good reason and putting BULLSHIT STANDARDS on us! Let me tell you. Don’t. Mess. With. Us. Got it?!” _

 

_ I’m not ready to date anybody right now, but if she had a crush on me, okay! Cool! _

 

No.

 

That’s… not cool.

 

That is… predatory, is it not? Being attracted to someone, knowing they aren’t interested? You should be turned off by the lack of attraction back, right? I wasn’t delusional, was I?

 

But… I couldn’t help myself. I was insane, wasn’t I?

 

Her grasp only grew tighter as she caressed the back of my neck. She… She can’t  _ fucking do that _ … She  _ can’t win my heart over like that  _ and yet, here she was doing just that. Unintentionally, I was sure, but… she was  _ bringing  _ my heart to her like she was a magnet. Her actions  _ begged _ for my heart to grow arms and legs, get out of my body, and just become Marina’s.

 

I had a crush. Of course I realized that then. My crush was someone I had greatly hurt, but she… didn’t care.

 

She kept telling me that I was okay as I cried. Her grip grew even tighter somehow… Her breathtaking skin was so damn warm… and smooth…

 

I didn’t deserve this, but Marina didn’t agree. Marina was…  _ okay _ with my mistakes.

 

But what she didn’t know was my feelings. My predatory ones, targeting this girl who didn’t know much.

 

Why did I even like her anyways?

 

I was very short.

 

She was very tall.

 

I’m very expressive.

 

Marina’s only really expressive under pressure or the occasional episode of enthusiasm over her interests.

 

I sucked at making music- a mere beginner.

 

Marina was the expert.

 

I wanted to make rap music.

 

She wanted to make other songs.

 

I was an Inkling.

 

She was an Octoling.

 

…

 

What was right? What was wrong? What was society merely stigmatizing, and what aspects of her should I not have been attracted to due to contrast?

 

These urges… must’ve been unhealthy, no?

 

Agh… I took a look at her face again.  _ Cod _ , she was  _ gorgeous _ … Just… She had the face of a queen, of a goddess… It was fucking  _ perfect _ … the mix of light and dark, the structure…  _ FUCKING DAMMIT! _

 

I… wasn’t sure… what to do. What to think. What to say.

 

She was just…  _ so pretty _ …  _ so adorable _ … I… I… I was preying over this girl, who days ago didn’t know what a handshake was…

 

What was wrong with me?

 

I had just  _ hurt her _ . The  _ audacity _ of me.

 

—-

 

“Pearl… I need you to calm…”

 

“I’m…” I swallowed. “I’m calm.”

 

Marina stared at me with concerned eyes. The Octarian girl slowly moved her head forward and planted a nice kiss on my forehead. Afterwards, she moved her lips back slightly, and then put her hands on the sides of the forehead, and muttered, “Thank you…”

 

I couldn’t take this anymore.

 

I flinched. I had to. I wasn’t going to be able to handle that any longer.

 

Marina looked at me with terrified, surprised eyes, full of guilt.

 

I was a real smarty.

 

“Ah! Sorry, Pearl!”

 

“It’s fine. I just… wasn’t expecting that.”

 

“No, not just that…” Marina said with a saddened voice, “You’ve treated me so well… You've constantly dealt with my bullshit… You're  _ still  _ here… I… want you to know that I am trying. I… I really am trying to cope better. I’m… really sorry…” A few tears ran down from her eyes.

 

She was saying sorry to her predator… whose naivety had gotten her  _ beaten _ by multiple people.

 

“Marina, I…” I stood up. “It’s okay and um…”

 

_ U-u-um… what do?! _

 

_ I’m not ready to date anybody right now. _

 

_ Well you know what, You NOT HELPING!! I DON’T BELIEVE YOU CAN HELP!! HAVE YOU GOTTEN AS MUCH MILITARY TRAINING AS I HAD?!?! I DON’T THINK SO! I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO STRESS ABOUT THE POTENTIAL OF YOU CUTTING YOURSELF WITH THE POINTY PLANTS OVER THERE! YEAH I GET LESS SLEEP IF DO MYSELF, BUT I JUST. CAN’T. HANDLE. ANY. MORE. STRESS! _

 

_ He send someone to distract you so you would miss the bus, and you fell for it. _

 

“Pearl?”

 

“Oh! Uh… sorry Marina! Gotta go!”

 

And with that, I fucking sprinted right out of there as if I was trying to escape a robber. 

 

Very, very normal. Yes, indeed.

 

_ Normal is the very opposite of what I thought I was at that moment _ .

 

I… I…

 

I couldn’t think.

 

Fuck.

 

No.

 

I…

 

.

 

Why?

 

This… This…

 

—

 

I didn’t really remember what happened after that. At all.

 

But at this time, I was in a home. I saw from the corner of my eyes. It had a rather familiar scent…

 

Marina’s room.

 

Because of course.

 

My vision was pretty damn impaired and… I felt warm…  _ very warm _ .

 

Then, I realized.

 

My eyes were wet as  _ fuck.  _ I was making incomprehensible wails, and my entire physical existence was wrapped up into one giant hug.

 

Marina caressed my back, comforting me with a shaky voice. “There there… Shhh… You’re okay, Pearl…”

 

The naivety from her. Oh, the irony.

 

Finally realizing my own consciousness, I decided to actually shut the fuck up. I wasn’t going to let my victim  _ comfort  _ me.

 

“Marina, Marina! I don’t deserve this! Let me go!”

 

“Uh...” she said, uncertain.

 

I couldn’t quit crying, though, despite all my efforts. Through my obnoxious wailing, Marina said, “Talk to me, Pearl…”

 

“NO! NO MARINA, JUST LET ME GO!!”

 

“Pearl, please.  _ Please _ .” She had a desperate tone.

 

This girl didn’t need any of my bullshit.

 

I’d had enough. “GET… OFF!” I pushed Marina’s torso away, breaking through her grip entirely and ending up on my back.

 

I’d used a whole lot more force than intended. Marina was  _ really  _ taken aback by that. She was laying on her back on her pillow, with a shocked expression.

 

“Marina, I… When I said I had to go… I had to go…”

 

“You… You started going nuts on sidewalk!”

 

I wasn’t having it. “ _ Just leave me alone! _ ”

 

Great choice, Pearl. Great choice.

 

And then there were tears… on both of our faces.

 

“Pearl…” Marina squeaked.

 

I wasn’t so sure what to do.

 

“Please… talk to me. I can’t just let you break down…”

 

“Marina, I… I… don’t… know... what to do…”

 

She just looked… absolutely devastated.

 

She took off her glasses, and whispered, “I… can only do so much to help if you no talk to me, Pearl…”

 

“You can’t help.”

 

“I  _ have  _ to.”

 

“Marina, please… I… I don’t wanna talk about it right now.”

 

“Pearl…”

 

“ _ No. _ ”

 

She looked down at her legs. “I… I shouldn’t be forcing you… I just… You’ve helped me through so much…”

 

“And you’d help me by letting me go.”

 

Marina looked back at me. Her face got worse and worse by the second.

 

“Okay…” she whispered. She put her glasses back on and looked over to her left side as I walked out, face still watery.

 

I approached the stairs and… then I heard weeping. Low, but full of passion, from Marina’s room.

 

Oh...

 

Was I just gonna leave her like that?

 

I couldn’t admit my problems. But… perhaps.

 

Perhaps the best thing I was able to do was help her. Help my victim.

 

So I did just that. I turned around and walked back in.

 

She had just… broken down right behind me. She had her face in her hands. Her tears were so plentiful that her tears got through her fingers.

 

She really was… just done. And I couldn’t blame her at all.

 

“Marina,” I said quietly and calmly as I walked over to her bed. I slowly got on it and patted her leg. “Come on, Marina… It’s okay…”

 

“No…” she said shakily. “I can’t… I can’t handle any more, Pearl…”

 

“I know it’s hard, Marina. Believe me.”

 

“Just… What will they do next?  _ Will  _ they do anything more? I don’t know… I don’t know what the hell is going on anymore…”

 

Suddenly, I got an idea. “Marina, can’t you file charges?”

 

“Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Charges?”

 

“Yeah. Get em off your ass!”

 

“Pearl, I… That wouldn’t work. They’d only get on my ass more… I don’t even think the court would help out an Octarian… and I don’t want to take things that far.”

 

“Well, I… I’ll try my best to defend you.”

 

“There’s… not much you or I could do, Pearl… I didn’t really  _ think  _ about the future, just dealing with the present then… but now, I realize that I could get even more  _ fucked _ !”

 

“Marina, they… They might be done! They’ve done a lot, y’know…”

 

“You don’t know that…”

 

I thought hard, trying to come up with another option but… it never came.

 

“Fuck… You know, maybe… Maybe I deserve it…”

 

“What? No, Marina… You don’t deserve it!”

 

“Maybe I do…”

 

“Marina, what in the world could make you think that?”

 

“Just… I been trying, Pearl. I really have. I… I been trying so hard…”

 

“Trying to handle this all?”

 

“Yeah… trying to do that… and I just… can’t… be happy… with who I am…”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I think about lot of things and… I feel like maybe some of my bullying is justified… that maybe this is just what happens when I go some place I’m not welcomed in and rudely stay.”

 

“Marina that’s… not how things work, or should work. You have a right to be here.”

 

“Regardless of that, I’m just… I’m just  _ cursed _ .”

 

“Cursed?”

 

“Look at me, Pearl! Take your eyeballs and take a look at this… this  _ weirdo  _ in front of you! I… I didn’t choose to be in this…  _ wrong  _ form. I… I just want to be beautiful… for one time… All the shit my parents say are  _ fucking  _ fake…”

 

No…

 

“Marina…”

 

I wanted to say it. I wanted to just yell at her about how beautiful she was… but was I able to afford that?

 

You can have… platonic compliments, yeah? But… I knew she was gonna say I was full of crap if I sounded casual about it.

 

“Marina, I just think those bullies have gotten to you.”

 

“Pearl, even when I was surrounded by my own people I felt like this. These bullies are just making things worse.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Pearl, you don’t… you don’t  _ get it _ … I… I always been told that can’t be fully female… They… They said I’m too strong. That I’m too good at combat. That I’m just… too tall. The same  _ shit _ spilled over and over. You know what they say- If everybody around you is telling you you’re wrong, then you’re wrong.”

 

“Marina, have you seen the other species around here? They could beat five of us to a pulp!”

 

“They… They aren’t  _ comparable _ . That’s the thing. They’re completely different. They aren’t  _ not normal  _ for their species or closely-related species. I… I  _ am _ .”

 

“And that’s what makes you unique and great!”

 

“That’s what they all say, but I’m different in a bad way. I just… I  _ hate  _ my looks! I  _ hate  _ them! I just want to be  _ pretty  _ like you,  _ pretty  _ like my mom,  _ pretty  _ like every damn other person on this earth! Is that so hard to ask?”

 

I couldn’t stand this anymore.

 

“Marina.”

 

She looked at me with an uneasy look.

 

I sighed. I was really doing this. “You…  _ are _ … pretty.”

 

Marina shook her head. “I… really no think any find me… even slight attractive.”

 

I swallowed. “I… I do…”

 

Marina’s eyes widened. “Huh?”

 

“Marina, I… always… thought… you looked nice…”

 

“Nice?”

 

“More than that.” There was no going back. “You. Look. Gorgeous. To me.”

 

Marina gestured at herself as looked at me like I was a madwoman. “You… find this… overgrown thing attractive?”

 

“I don’t find any overgrown thing attractive, but I find  _ you  _ attractive.”

 

“You…” Marina sighed. “You’re wrong.” She said simply.

 

“Wrong?”

 

“Yeah. You’re wrong. I’m sorry but, I’ve got to point it out.”

 

“Marina,” I got closer to her and stared right into her eyes. Oh lord, the breathtaking contrast emitted from her hues… “You’re... one of the… most... beautiful people... I’ve ever seen.”

 

“Why…”

 

“You… want to know why?” I said nervously. “Your… uh… oceanic eyes, your… c-c-c-c-cute face, your… uh... one-of-a-kind hair, your... slim body. Those are  _ good  _ features, not bad.”

 

“You… really think?”

 

“Marina, y-y-y-you  _ are  _ attractive. Trust me.”

 

We were both blushing messes.

 

“Pearl, I…”

 

“You… should be proud of yourself.”

 

Marina looked at me with uncertainty.

 

“You’re a really… strong person. Not just physically, I mean… but… mentally, as well.”

 

“But I can’t control my… temper...”

 

“I never… said you were perfect, and you shouldn’t place that sort-of standard on yourself. What really matters is that you are still able to have some moments of… enjoyment and all… and that you realize your issues and strive to fix them…”

 

Marina continued to give me that uncertain look, but then she smiled for a change. And with that, she wrapped her long arms around me and put me into another warm hug. This time though, I didn’t resist anything. 

 

My plan had worked. I was… content with that fact. Even if there were real big issues with me, at least I was able to be of good help. Maybe, I’d be able to figure this whole thing out and move on. Perhaps...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that was a read that was enjoyable. Sorry for taking a month to update this.  
> Probably gonna write a Halloween fic soon, so stay tuned for that.  
> As always, I appreciate every read, kudos, and comment! Really, thank you all!


	8. A Wide Range

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pearl Houzuki likes Marina Ida part 874

What a mess I was. What a mess she was. We were just two messes who happened to fall near the same spot.

 

I couldn’t help but feel absolutely enamored by Marina at this time yet again, so I wrapped my arms around here too. Her body was so gorgeous… I wanted to make her feel comfortable...

 

But mentally, I wasn’t even in the same building.

 

I couldn’t forget the problem.

 

I couldn’t help this problem, but. That didn’t make it any less of a goddamn problem.

 

Just… Marina. Marina…  _ Marina _ … She was… so wonderful. I couldn’t…  _ fucking help myself _ … If I looked up and saw her breathtaking face again, I was going to just fucking spit out every compliment that existed for a woman in this damned society.

 

This… wasn’t… healthy, and yet I couldn’t stop. I thought,  _ She _ …  _ She’s so pretty _ …  _ She’s so kind and caring _ …  _ I _ ... _ I _ …  _ Marina… _

 

Her face kept popping up in my head. That smile of her’s... It’s so… It’s so…

 

“Pearl? There, there…” The fucking angel hugging me started gently rubbing my back. “Your breathing is getting uneven… Your face is all red… Do you want to talk about your issue?”

 

Her compassion was so adorable… I hadn’t even noticed my face heating up and my breathing going nuts. I was focused on this cutie hugging me… I was just  _ infatuated  _ as hell… and yet that infatuation was backed by a true  _ love  _ for this octopus.

 

Too many emotions were in play in my head… Simply too fucking many…

 

From love and desire to complete resentment and hatred. I was feeling all of em. I didn’t know what the  _ fuck  _ was going on anymore!

 

…

 

_ Marina _ …

 

Soon enough, I started whimpering… and then came the tears. It was gonna happen; I knew it ever since Marina started hugging me.

 

“Pearl…”

 

I was fully crying by now into Marina’s body. The girl held me closer and quietly muttered phrases of comfort…

 

_ “Marina _ …” I said unevenly.

 

“Pearl, look at me…”

 

I… obliged.

 

She had some tears near her eyes too. Her concerned face with her glasses on took me back yet again… I didn’t know  _ how  _ she fucking did it, but she made me feel like I was going to explode.

 

“ _ FUCK IT! _ ” I yelled into Marina’s neck,  _ “I can't take it anymore! _ ” I tightened my grip around Marina. “Marina… Ever since we met earlier today on… wherever the hell that street was… I… I realized something about myself!”

 

“Easy, Pearl…”

 

“I…  _ can’t go easy… because I’m a fucking… PERVERT! _ ”

 

Marina was silent for a bit. I looked back up at her and saw that her face had grown even more concerned.

 

“Pearl… What do you mean?”

 

“I…  _ Fuck! _ ” I took a few more breaths. “I realized that… I… I…  _ love  _ you… I just think you’re the best girl I’ve ever met… You’re so gorgeous… You’re s-s-s-s-so talented… You’re so compassionate… I… I’m… sorry.”

 

Marina was silent again for a few moments. Then, she calmly said, “Pearl… That’s perfectly fine…”

 

“Marina, no it’s not… You… You can’t date me! You don’t know enough about the culture! I’m… no better… than a pedophile...”

 

“Hey, Pearl… I don’t think you understand…”

 

“I know… you said you would be okay with me if I had a crush on you… but… you’re wrong…”

 

“No… Pearl… I said you don’t… understand… Now, I need you to calm down…”

 

“ _ No! I don’t FUCKING deserve any peaceful shit… _ ”

 

Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, Marina carried me up onto her lap and fucking put her lips to mine.

 

She started kissing me, not just a little ol’ platonic kiss, but with hands and all. 

 

She was… She was…

 

This wasn’t fucking right.

 

But it… made me feel really cozy inside. Even with the bloodbath known as my mind at the moment,  _ cod _ , I was still able to notice just how  _ good  _ Marina was at kissing. My face must’ve been redder than ketchup by now.

 

When she finally let go of me and placed me off her lap, we merely stared at each other, until I decided to speak up.

 

“You…”

 

“Pearl… it’s okay…”

 

“You… love me… too? YOU LIKE WOMEN TOO?!?!”

 

“I… do… I was just too shy to bring up… I do love you, Pearl. I... loved you for a while now… but we both know I cannot date you yet…”

 

“That’s the thing! I… I shouldn’t be in love with you if you don’t know enough to date me or aren’t mentally stable enough to!!”

 

“Pearl, I need you to understand… You no monster.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Pearl…” She put her hands on my cheeks. “It’s okay for you to love me… but it’s not okay to pursue me.”

 

“Why is the former okay?”

 

“You acting like I mentally can’t consent in a way like I’m a baby or something. I just no know dating customs here, and I simply too incompetent mentally to be able to date with all of these issues I have…”

 

“I still shouldn’t-”

 

“You need keep in mind that you aren’t attracted to someone in the way a pedo is… It’s not like you’re attracted to babies or thirteen year olds… We both seventeen. Perverseness isn’t same thing as liking someone who simply doesn’t  _ know  _ certain things or isn’t mentally stable for a time. Those things don’t erase attraction and that okay. You just need to know boundaries, Pearl.”

 

“But how? Don’t they both-”

 

“Pearl… Pearl… Have you ever liked someone whose parents didn’t let them date?”

 

“No…”

 

“Do you think anybody is a creep for still liking them but keeping their boundaries?”

 

“Well, no, but that’s-”

 

“Pearl. It’s the same thing scenario.”

 

“But-”

 

“You-”

 

“ _ Quit fucking interrupting me, dammit! _ ” I immediately regretted yelling.

 

_ Fuck _ , I really just did that. I feared Marina was going to go berserk…

 

...but she continued to be calm as hell.

 

She merely sighed and continued, “You stressed, Pearl. You need to calm down.”

 

“I’m… sorry, Reena…”

 

“But to put down your point, what you’re comparing your attraction to… They’re at completely different levels. I… guess that was a pretty crappy analogy to use back there… but it’s about mental and physical similarity with age. You not a creep. You be doing nothing wrong. You have attraction which cannot be acted upon because I simply no know some cultural stuff and because I not doing so hot right now and because of those things, I simply would no be able to handle a relationship. You need understand that those not same as being a literal child with a completely different, less understanding mind versus someone like you who’s almost an adult but simply has some hinderances.”

 

“You… aren’t just sugarcoating?”

 

“I swear, Pearl, I’m not.”

 

Goodness, I’m a fucking idiot.

 

“I’m… sorry, Marina…”

 

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

 

“No. I’m sorry for being such a dumbass. Letting you get beat up, wasting your time with this, just making things worse…”

 

“Pearl, trust me. You wouldn’t have been able to do much with the bus thing. And… you aren’t stupid. You did a few stupid things, but you aren’t stupid. You are a bit naive… but we all have problems. I’m… much worse-”

 

“ _ Don’t. _ ”

 

Marina sighed. “You are a wonderful person. You’ve helped me so much. So what you’ve frustrated me a few times? Who doesn’t frustrate their friend every once in a while?”

 

“I’ll… try to improve, Marina, just like you have… Thank you so much… I’ve only known you for a few days and… I’ve somehow become so enamored by you…”

 

Marina blushed. “When… all of these issues eventually go away… and when I become adapted to the culture fully… I think I’d like to give it a shot.”

 

“For real?!”

 

Marina put her hands on mine. “Of course. I love you.”

 

Well, there goes my head again.

 

“You’ve done so much for me, Pearl. I… I cannot thank you enough.”

 

“You deserve any help you get, Marina.”

 

“Oh, and uh… I just want to tell you… please don’t tell anybody about how I’m… woman-attracted.”

 

“Nobody else knows?”

 

“Underground was… not accepting of same-sex-attracted people…”

 

“Oh…”

 

“I had some girlfriends in past, but they were all in secret. Never lasted either.”

 

“Oh… goodness… uh… I’m really sorry about that… no,  _ all  _ of this bullshit! You’re the very last person who deserves this stuff!”

 

“I’ll be fine… Just please don’t tell anybody…”

 

“I won’t. I swear on this damned earth, Reena.”

 

“I… I’m glad you were the first to know… I really am.”

 

“Uh, thanks…” With all of that  _ stuff  _ outta the way, I stood up and started walking towards the door. “Well, I uh guess I should head out. I do have homework to do and all…”

 

“Wait, Pearl!”

 

I turned around. “Yeah?”

 

“Uh…” She paused, then continued hesitantly. “Do you want to go out? Grab bite? Want to go eat some dinner meal?” She was sweating.

 

“A meal? Uh… I’d have to ask my parents.but… I’d love to!” I guessed homework was able to wait.

 

“Oh, how wonderful! My treat.”

 

“Wait, no. Marina, you’re poorer than me. You shouldn’t.”

 

Marina got off her bed as well. She walked up to me calmly, and kneeled down so our heads were at the same height. “Don’t worry about thing, Pearl. Let me take you out.”

 

“But-”

 

“Hey, do I need to hug you again or something to get you up? You still feeling down?”

 

“Just… at least let me pay for myself, okay?”

 

“Nope!”

 

She wasn’t gonna budge.

 

“Okie dokie! Pay if you want. I give up defying your damned selflessness.”

 

“Good.” She laughed with that adorable voice of her’s.

 

Well, the afternoon started off horribly but maybe it was going to get better. Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, I’m tryna work on this stuff faster, but y’all know how school is and other stuff.  
> As always, kudos, comments, and hits are appreciated! Thank you!


	9. No Mercy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for violence and verbal sexual harassment

“Alright! I can go out!” I said.

 

“Great! So where do you want to eat?” Marina asked. “Am still unfamiliar with town and all, so you decide!”

 

“A diner I really like is just a few blocks north from here, I believe.”

 

“Oh? What is the name?”

 

“It’s call-”

 

“Ah! Marina, are you doing well? Did Pearl help you? Do you want me to try more?” Mr. Ida yelled from downstairs.

 

“Oh, I’m okay, thank you. I’m doing a bit better… Pearl and I are going to head out to grab bite.”

 

“Wonderful!” He walked towards us. “Just be back soon. Remember, you’ve got work you’ve gotta do.”

 

“I know, father.” Marina went up to her dad and gave her a nice hug. It was rather long, and, honestly, I felt a  _ bit _ awkward, but it’s understandable and all. Mr. Ida seemed like a nice guy who cared about his daughter.

 

However, really, describing my feelings at  _ that  _ time is worthless… because what happened after completely smothered them.

 

I couldn’t really comprehend it when it first started.

 

While the two were hugging, a brick was thrown at the window, broke through it, and hit Mr. Ida in his right fucking arm. The impact was enough for him to fall over, but Marina was fast enough to prevent him from falling to the ground.

 

But, then  _ another  _ brick was thrown, making  _ another  _ hole in the window. As Marina was turning her head towards the window, it slammed into her glasses, causing them to fly off their face. The damage was severe, but… that was clearly aimed for her head and it  _ missed _ .

 

Marina jumped backwards towards me, causing her dad to fall. Her face red with rage, she bluntly said, “Help him! I’ll be back!”

 

I didn’t know what the  _ fuck  _ was happening, but what was I really going to be able to do besides help her old man? Frantically, I ran to him. He was thankfully still conscious, and was even attempting to get up on his own, but I told him to stay down. He was leaning against the sofa in an awkward position, so I tried dragged his body parts up onto the couch, a few at a time. He kept telling me to leave him be and let him deal with the threat, but he was too afraid to hurt me, so he didn’t act. As I helped him, I heard disgruntled Octarian cussing, which were then followed by a loud yell. “ _ MARINA IDA, YAK GOBINEHI _ !”

 

I didn’t know what the hell that meant, but I knew that we were  _ fucked _ .

 

That one guy kept repeating that sentence over and over, getting louder each time. I swear, I thought he was gonna break in.

 

Finally, Marina returned with… a fucking gun.

 

“WHAT?! WHY DO YOU HAVE A-”

 

“You two! Stay back!  _ Don’t  _ follow me!”

 

“Marina, do  _ not  _ go outside!”

 

“I’m  _ seventeen _ , dad! Let me deal with this.” Marina growled. “I won’t succumb to bullshit like last time.”

 

“You’re being irrational! You’re being driven by anger, which is what you’ve sworn to try to  _ not  _ do anymore! It’s my  _ job  _ to protect you! Let me handle this!”

 

He was right, really. Marina had to calm the fuck down.

 

The tall girl took multiple deep breaths facing the door.

 

After a few, Mr. Ida yelled again, “Marina!”

 

“I’ve grown, father. I can control my anger better now. Thank you for the therapy.” And with that, she walked out with her fucking gun.

 

Mr. Ida and I walked to the door together to discreetly watch.

 

What we saw was… horrifying.

 

There was a buncha Inkling boys… like… a  _ shit ton _ of them… And then I saw  _ him _ .

 

You know exactly who.

 

That  _ fucker  _ was back, and I was suddenly filled with more rage than shock. I just wanted to strangle that fucking Adrian punk.

 

But, that wasn’t even the worst part.

 

He had Marina’s mother in his arms, with a  _ fucking knife  _ in front of her throat. She was leaning on his chest, with her head right below his.

 

I  _ had  _ to keep my distance. I couldn’t fuck anything up. This was all in Marina’s control. Mr. Ida clearly had similar urges, showing an absolutely petrified expression. He yelled out his wife’s name to laughs from the boys. I swore I saw Marina’s fist shake. I blocked the doorway, preventing Mr. Ida from entering, but still giving him room to see the commotion.

 

“Marina Ida,” Adrian said, “Ekej ani?”

 

“You…”

 

“Confused? Afraid? Don’t do anything rash, Marina. I’ve got your mother’s life on the line here. To answer your question…” A boy behind him suddenly pulled on his bushy, red, Inkling-like hair to a large extent, causing it to unravel behind him. We both gasped as we saw him turn around, revealing tentacles on the outside of his hair.

 

Adrian Inklai… was Octarian… No. His face was very much one of an Inkling. He must’ve been both.

 

Wait,  _ ADRIAN INKLAI WAS HALF-OCTARIAN?!?! _

 

Marina had no reaction that we were able to see. She just seemed… overwhelmed with rage.

 

“My real name is Amikab Inklai. I was born in the underground to a wealthy mixed Inkling and Octarian family. My father worked in the government as a spy to make sure there were no rebellions.”

 

That was… Mr. Ida’s job…

 

“The great Supreme Leader Octavio, months back, suspected that your father was… not that loyal to the regime given his stances. So, he sent my Inkling mother, my siblings, and I to the surface to live in Inkopolis, predicting you’d betray him and settle there because  _ every  _ damn Octarian traitor comes here!”

 

_ Shit, shit, shit _ , I thought.

 

“My father, meanwhile, constantly spied on  _ your _ father, Marina Ida. He checked for indications of defiance. When your father condemned the military crackdowns on the protests, there were no straws left. He was fired and your family fled to  _ here _ . Now, Combat Engineer Marina Ida, I have come to complete my mission for the Octarian Republic, to  _ assassinate  _ your father!”

 

_ You’ve… got to be kidding me… _ I thought.

 

Amikab wasn’t a normal fucking bully because  _ of course  _ he wasn’t. Marina wasn’t allowed any mercy.

 

The Octarian girl sighed. “Let my mother go.”

 

“THAT’S EXACTLY THE THING, YOUNG PRODIGY!!!!” Amikab yelled. “I  _ know  _ I can’t kill your old man without getting you up my ass! You’re ruthless, absolutely insane! It’s… admirable, in a way, Ms. Ida! Yes, admirable! Those  _ warnings  _ I made didn’t work, so I've  _ lured  _ you out here into a  _ trap _ ! Each man here is equipped with the very same gun you currently have. We will  _ spare  _ your mom if it means taking your life.”

 

Marina merely sighed again. I turned back and Mr. Ida was driven to tears.

 

“Let my mother go,” Marina repeated.

 

“Do you understand why I haven’t been typical when dealing with you? It’s my  _ job  _ to antagonize you!! I have such a damn  _ hatred _ for you type of people…”

 

Marina began breathing heavily. She turned to us to see if we had any ideas, but… we were as stumped as her.

 

“Marina!”

 

The Octoling turned to see what her mother was going to say.

 

“Don’t submit… It’s… It’s okay…”

 

“Your mother is insane! You must’ve gotten that from her, Marina Ida!”

 

Marina merely growled at them. She… really didn’t have many options.

 

“Oh, and Marina… If you try coming closer and saving your ma, we’ll _kill_ _you_ too. Don’t forget that.”

 

Marina kept breathing heavily. “How predictable…”

 

“So what are you going to do, Marina? Are you going to try and somehow  _ trick  _ me? Are you going to let your poor old ma die? Are you going to sacrifice  _ yourself _ ?”

 

No answer.

 

“Hm… If I’m going to be honest, you’re a rather  _ attractive  _ girl…”

 

I  _ really  _ didn’t like where  _ any  _ of this was going. I desperately kept thinking of ways to intervene, but nothing was popping up that would’ve guaranteed success.

 

“Hm… Y’know… I might not dispose of your body immediately once you’ve passed…”

 

_ Fuck _ , I know exactly what he’s trying to do.

 

“That shithead…” Mr. Ida muttered.

 

“ _ Don’t even _ …” Marina growled.

 

“You’re quite the strong one, emotionally and physically. I admire that. I admire a lot about you, you know…”

 

“Just… get it over with…” Marina said with a defeated tone.

 

“Oh? So you’ve given up? You’re really going to let  _ me  _ win? The  _ bad  _ guy?” He laughed maniacally. “Life isn’t so black and white, you fucking traitor.”

 

“Just… let my parents have the body…” Marina sounded… tired…

 

She’s seemingly accepting death so… easily.

 

This can’t be the end. It can’t be.

 

“Hm… Normally I’d respect that wish, but I’m not sure this time.”

 

Mr. Ida growled.

 

“Just… please… do…” Marina said with despair.

 

“I dunno, Marina, you’ve got some nice muscles there…”

 

“ _ Do it _ ,” Marina barked.

 

I looked back at Mr. Ida. He was fucking  _ fuming _ .

 

“And that torso of yours… Those curves…”

 

“ _ YOU MOTHERFUCKER _ !” I was suddenly pushed away from the door by Mr. Ida. When I got up, I saw him walking towards Marina. He ended up standing right next to her.

 

“Dad, I-”

 

“Let me handle this, Marina.” He turned to Amikab. “Listen, Amikab. I loved the Octarian Republic, but I simply couldn’t support certain actions its rulers took. Now, we  _ can _ be civil about this and accept our differences.”

 

“Mr. Ida, you’ve betrayed the Octarian Republic INDISPUTABLY! You deserve a horrific death and NOTHING LESS!”

 

Mr. Ida sighed. “Please… just… spare the girls… I’ll tell Marina not to avenge me.”

 

“We all know Marina Ida would  _ NOT  _ listen to you! She would most certainly hold a grudge and try to get us back!”

 

“You… realize you’re trying to commit murder, yes?” Mr. Ida said.

 

“Oh, of course!” Amikab said, smiling.

 

“Sir, why not just fire at them all now?” One of the boys asked.

 

“You idiot!  _ I  _ want to kill them, not you! You all are just backup in case things go wrong! Remember to  _ only  _ shoot when I say so NO MATTER WHAT!”

 

I was just stumped.

 

What was I able to do?

 

Nothing. Fucking nothing.

 

If I called the cops, I’m damn sure Amikab would just go nuts on them. 

 

“Father, please… go back with Pearl. Both of you, stay in the house!”

 

“What’re you planning on doing?”

 

“ _ JUST DO IT _ ! You can trust your own daughter, yeah? I’ll get us all out of this. Go to the window, and when the time is right, fall back! You’ll know when!”

 

The man quickly hugged her daughter and turned back to me. He ran towards the door as I went towards the window to continue to watch. He followed.

 

I had absolutely no idea what Marina was planning, but, I couldn’t help but feel some faith.

 

Marina then suddenly raised her gun up, aiming it right at Amikab’s head.

 

“Oh?” He then brought Mrs. Ida upwards to block his head. “You aren’t thinking of shooting me, are you?” He brought the knife closer to her throat.

 

Marina growled. However, she then gestured Amikab to come towards her.

 

“You think I’ll actually come closer?”

 

“You would if you weren’t a coward.”

 

“Ah, I see.” He turned and looked at the other boys. “Stay back so if things go wrong, ya don’t shoot  _ me  _ too!” He started walking towards her with her mother.

 

“Y’know,” He turned Mrs. Ida so his eyes were able to see Marina. “This is a rather nice view.” Amikab walked right in front of Marina’s gun. “You’ve got some nice eyes. It’s a shame you’d rather waste them on women, yeah?”

 

Marina growled.

 

“What, you think I’m stupid? Of course you and Pearl like each other! Pearl, of course, is only taking advantage of you, so I really think you should actually make yourself be of good use, yeah?”

 

“I… won’t respond to that...”

 

“Why? That’s a rather cowardly thing to do, is it?”

 

“The more cowardly thing to do is hide behind my mother’s face.”

 

“Alright. Y’know, I understand that! That is rather cowardly, or you’re just saying that because you want to see my face, yeah? You’re  _ submitting _ .”

 

“Believe what you want.”

 

“Okay,” He brought her mother back to her original position, below his head.

 

“See? I ain’t no coward, Marina! I at least have  _ some  _ dignity, unlike you! Now, I really wonder how you’re planning to get out of this, yeah? You seem to simply be surrounded by dead ends. I’m saying you’re fucked, Marina Ida. You’ve been fucked ever since your father made the fatal decision to betray our motherland, and after you’re done for, your father will be killed, and you know what, I may add your mother and Pearl to the mix.”

 

Marina sighed. “Forgive me, mother.”

 

Marina then stomped on her mother’s foot, causing her to yell and headbutt Amikab. Amikab began to fall over, causing him to drop the knife. Marina quickly grabbed her mother and retreated in a zig-zag pattern as bullets flew at her. She jumped through the window with her mother, breaking it even more, as Mr. Ida and I fell back a few feet. We tried kneeling to avoid the bullets coming, and Marina did the same. The Octarian girl gently placed her mother’s body down. 

 

“Take her, and get the police! I’ll take care of this!”

 

“Marina!” Mr. Ida said.

 

“Let me handle this! I’m not letting any of you get killed tonight!”

 

I was overwhelmed as fuck. This was all happening so suddenly, and yet Marina was acting with such a strong composure. I just… couldn’t comprehend any of this.

 

“But what if you-” I said.

 

“If I  _ die _ , so be it! Now, GET OUT!”

 

We ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, out from the backyard into another because we had no other choice, and then into the street.

 

I knew where the police station was, so I was in the lead. Mr. Ida held his wife, and he was still a damn fast runner.

 

I just hoped everything was going to be okay...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this last night and finished it the next morning. Oops.  
> Kudos, hits, and comments as always are greatly appreciated. Seriously, thank you.


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